Europe's largest car maker, Volkswagen, in 2005 dominated the German automobile market, according to a study released Tuesday.
Between January and November, VW sold 571,335 cars, giving it a market share of 18.5 percent, according to the Kraftfahrzeugbundesamt, a federal office monitoring new automobile licenses.
Mercedes came in at second place (322,591 cars), with Opel, which is owned by General Motors, taking third with 318,358 cars.
The strongest import brand is French car maker Renault with 154,028 cars sold and a market share of 5 percent.
The best-selling car in Germany in 2005 was VW's Golf/Jetta model, a mid-sized model of which nearly 222,000 units were sold.
The more expensive categories were led by the Audi A6 and the Mercedes CLS. Bavarian car maker BMW has lost the spot in the top three for overall sales, but heads the sports utility sector with its X3 model.
Source: UPI