Wondering what is automotive market share? It is a brand’s or group’s slice of all new vehicles sold or registered in a market, shown as a percentage. You find it by dividing its units by the market total.
This explainer belongs to the wider topic of automotive business, where market share sits alongside sales and profit.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Germany: new passenger car registrations, 2025 | 2,857,591 cars |
| Volkswagen brand registrations in Germany, 2025 | 560,796 cars |
| Volkswagen share of Germany’s 2025 total (calculated) | about 19.6% |
| German brands including group brands, share of Germany’s 2025 market | 70% |
| Worldwide new passenger car registrations, 2025 | 80,407,889 cars |
| Battery-electric share of EU-27 new car registrations, 2024 | nearly 14% |
The registration counts come from the VDA’s new registrations tables, and the EU electric share comes from the ICCT’s European vehicle market pocketbook. The Volkswagen share is a simple calculation from the VDA figures. Figures can change when data is revised, so check the source before you rely on them.
What automotive market share actually means
Market share is the portion of a market that one seller holds. In cars, that seller can be a single brand, a group of brands, or all manufacturers from one country taken together.
The share can be measured on different bases:
- Units registered, which counts cars put on the road.
- Units sold, which counts cars delivered by dealers.
- Revenue, which counts the money earned rather than the cars.
Most public tables use units, because they are easy to count and compare. To work out a share yourself, follow these steps:
- Choose the market, such as one country, and the period, such as one calendar year.
- Find the units for the brand you want to measure.
- Find the total units for the whole market in the same period.
- Divide the brand’s units by the total and express the result as a percentage.
How is automotive market share measured?
In Europe the usual starting point is registration records. The VDA publishes new passenger car registrations by brand in Germany and credits KBA, the German registration authority, and the VDA as its sources, as shown in its new registrations tables.
Commercial data providers build on the same idea. As of its October 2026 update, Automotive World’s global registrations dataset covers more than 50 OEM groups and 140 brands in the top global markets.
Forecast shares work differently. The same Automotive World page says demand forecasts are compiled at the total industry volume level, and that each brand’s share is then calculated from recent or imminent product actions and competitor activity.
Coverage matters too. The Foureyes US dataset tracks a rolling 12-month period, updated monthly, and its inventory data covers new franchise dealerships only, so independent stores are not included.
A worked example from Germany’s 2025 registrations
Germany is a useful case because the VDA publishes both brand counts and the market total. In 2025 the market total was 2,857,591 new passenger cars, so every share below uses that number as the divisor.
- Volkswagen registered 560,796 cars, which is about 19.6% of the total, based on the VDA brand table.
- Mercedes registered 260,415 cars, about 9.1%, using the same VDA table.
- BMW registered 253,712 cars, about 8.9%, from the same VDA data.
Shares can also be grouped. The VDA reports that German brands including group brands held 70% of the German market in 2025, up from 68% in 2024, while foreign brands held 30%, down from 32%, according to its market share line.
Small shares can still move fast. Tesla registered 19,390 cars in Germany in 2025, down from 37,574, which is about 0.7% of the market. BYD went from 2,891 to 23,306 registrations, about 0.8%, per the VDA brand figures.
Why the market definition changes the result
The same brand can look big or small depending on the denominator, meaning the market you divide by. The VDA’s 2025 worldwide table shows how different those totals are:
- Germany: 2,857,591 new passenger cars.
- USA: 16,002,658 new passenger cars.
- China: 23,774,168 new passenger cars.
- Worldwide: 80,407,889 new passenger cars.
The VDA marks part of that worldwide table as provisionally estimated, and notes that its America figures include light trucks, as shown in its worldwide table. Check those notes before comparing countries.
You can also narrow the market by body style or fuel. The ICCT’s pocketbook reports that SUVs made up 48% of EU new registrations in 2024, followed by the lower medium segment at 19%. It also reports that battery-electric cars were nearly 14% of EU-27 new passenger car registrations, and plug-in hybrids about 7%.
Do not confuse a brand’s mix with its market share. In the same ICCT report, Tesla had a 100% battery-electric share of its own EU registrations in 2024, and Volvo had a 32% plug-in hybrid share of its own. Those are slices of each brand’s sales, not slices of the whole market.
Traps to avoid, and how share links to profit
Market share numbers are easy to misread. Watch for these common traps:
- Registrations are not retail demand. The VDA splits Germany’s 2025 total by owner type: 1,897,624 cars went to commercial owners, 959,967 to private owners and 249,544 to manufacturers, per its owner breakdown.
- Brand and group shares differ. The VDA’s German-brand line includes group brands, so it is not the same as one badge.
- Shares move with the total. A brand can sell fewer cars and still gain share if the whole market falls faster.
- Coverage gaps skew results. A dataset that leaves out independent dealers or some markets is not the full market.
Share also says little about money. A brand with a large share can earn thin margins, so it helps to read how to read an automaker earnings report next to any share figure.
For the reasons behind margins, see the explainer on how do automakers make a profit, which covers what share alone cannot show.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a good market share for a car brand?
Show answer
There is no universal benchmark. It depends on the market and on the trend. In Germany in 2025, Volkswagen held about 19.6% and Mercedes about 9.1%, based on the VDA registration figures.
Is market share based on sales or registrations?
Show answer
Both are used. The VDA and Automotive World datasets are built on new registrations, while the Foureyes dataset tracks new vehicle sales from franchise dealerships in the US. Always check which one a table uses.
Why can a brand lose share when its sales are not falling much?
Show answer
Share depends on the whole market as well as the brand. Germany’s total rose 1.4% in 2025 while Tesla’s registrations there fell 48.4%, so its share shrank.
Does a higher market share mean higher profit?
Show answer
Not automatically. Share counts units, while profit depends on prices, costs and mix. Use share as one measure next to financial results.
