Joined Nov 2018
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Wales
Only from the summer of 1942 to the end of the Autumn 42, 3-4 months or so, can the Germans state they had the best tanks during WW2. This was with the introduction of the Panzer IVF2, with the longer 75mm KwK40, and the Tiger 1.That is one of the German generals' three excuses after the war for why they lost, whereas actually Allied numerical or material superiority was not so great and many of the Germans' production problems were self-inflicted. There are popular myths like "it took 4 or 5 T-34s or Shermans to take out a Panther." I think some people on the Internet are trying to over-compensate for the myth of German superweapons by presenting German tanks as bad, whereas the majority view among experts seems to be that German tanks in the early war were pretty good, but good in ways other than having the biggest motor, the thickest armour, and the loudest gun.
Its just like how at the start of the war the Germans had rationally limited their tank inventory for a few, well-designed models compared to the somewhat chaotic British and French tank fleets, but by 1944 they were spreading their resources across all kind of wild and crazy designs while the Allies had standardized on a few.

7.5 cm KwK 40 - Wikipedia
However, the earlier PzIV was probably the second best tank of the war 39-41, after the A10, and remained competitive throughout the war.
The Germans started WW2 with the PzI, PzII, PzIII, PzIV, 35t and 38t tanks, plus the original PzV.

Neubaufahrzeug - Wikipedia
The British had the Lt Mk VI, A9, A10, A13, Matilda 1 and Matilda 2.
The French had a fair few more. Se page 10. FRENCH ARMAMENT by David Lehmann December 5, PDF Free Download
FCM-36
Renault R35/39/40
Hotchkiss H39
Char D1
Char D2
Char B1/B1bis.
Each of these three nations really had 6 different types of tanks, available to it, ignoring truly obsolete French models, such as the WW1 FT-17. However, it should be noted that the Germans intended to have only two for battle, ie the PzIII and PzIV, while the British wanted one cruiser and one infantry tank. Later, the Soviets wanted one medium and one heavy, so all nations were, in principle, initially thinking along the same lines. It was actually the Germans who then intended to have three models, with a heavy to counter well protected tanks fought during the Battle of France, but then reverted to Soviet practice of one heavy and one medium, on paper.