The global financial crisis has slammed car manufacturers around the world. In the United States, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have all been fighting for their survival.
In Europe, German premium manufacturers have been hard hit as well. Mercedes-Benz brand was down 5.4% in 2008 with Mercedes-Benz Cars which includes the Mercedes-Benz brand as well as SMART brand falling 2.3% for the year thanks to the strong results by SMART.
Now BMW Group, which includes the BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce brands of cars reports its sales declined 4.3% in 2008 to just over 1.4 million vehicles (1,435,876 precisely). While BMW Group maintains its title as largest premium auto manufacturer by volume, further analysis of the results reveal that BMW Group's flagship BMW brand (vehicles with the blue and white propeller) suffered tremendously during the year. BMW brand vehicles sales fell 5.8% compared to 2007 bringing year-end sales down to 1,202,239.
Fortunately, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands were both able to see record sales for the 2008 year. Mini sales rose 4.3% to 232,425 cars and Rolls-Royce saw a 20% sales increase in 2008 for its uber-luxury vehicles bringing the year-end total to 1,212 vehicles.
The results for the 3 German premium auto manufacturers for the 2008 year was as follows:
BMW brand: -5.8% for total of 1,202,239 vehicles
Mercedes-Benz brand: -5.4% for total of 1.12 million vehicles
Audi brand: +4.1% for total of 1,003,400
The weak U.S. market was the main reason for the large declines at BMW and Mercedes-Benz since both german manufacturers are heavily reliant on the U.S. market for overall sales. Audi, however, is a much smaller player in the suffering U.S. market and was able to set a new record for global sales thanks to its large presence in European and Asia-Pacific markets and much smaller exposure to the slumping U.S. market.
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