BMW vs. Mercedes-Who is winning the 2005 sales war?

Read this article today which was published on the wall-street journal news papers and my prediction was correct. MB W/crappy reliablility reputation are continuing to hurt their little sales...BMW's small sales also are continuing to slip compariable to last year and year before that one and so on...as I have posted previously one of the reason is in part of Acura, Infiniti and Lexus which are eating their lunch and soon dinner. Undeniable facts folks. Audi is fast becoming VW'ized. Even their new SUV are acually using crappy VW platforms now! BTW VW's sales profit is about to shrink in China for the first time and expect very hard recovery if ever! Their crappy reputation is now world wide phenomenon! VW's investement in China spending what little they had brought return of like 0% return while Kia, Honda and Hyundai is doing marvelous as expected always. I actually used to like Audi but now I'm completly having second thoughts b/c its now sharing parts w/VW.

Read this article today which was published on the wall-street journal news papers and my prediction was correct. MB W/crappy reliablility reputation are continuing to hurt their little sales...BMW's small sales also are continuing to slip compariable to last year and year before that one and so on...as I have posted previously one of the reason is in part of Acura, Infiniti and Lexus which are eating their lunch and soon dinner. Undeniable facts folks. Audi is fast becoming VW'ized. Even their new SUV are acually using crappy VW platforms now! BTW VW's sales profit is about to shrink in China for the first time and expect very hard recovery if ever! Their crappy reputation is now world wide phenomenon! VW's investement in China spending what little they had brought return of like 0% return while Kia, Honda and Hyundai is doing marvelous as expected always. I actually used to like Audi but now I'm completly having second thoughts b/c its now sharing parts w/VW.

Roughly 6 percent up for Audi not 14%.

Sales in its largest market, Germany, rose by 9 percent to just over 101,000 cars which is a small number.

Audi AG makes up the core of parent Volkswagen's only profitable industrial division, the Audi Brand Group

The carmaker, over 99 percent owned by parent Volkswagen, that's why Audi uses VW crap parts.

US SALES FALL not surprisingly.


In the United States, though, customers bought only 6,455 Audis in May, a 6.1 percent drop for the month and a 1.7 percent dip year-to-date.

When asked what caused the fall, he said that Audi was willing to sacrifice market share to preserve its profitability in an industry dominated by heavy incentives.
Last year Audi brand sales rose 1.2 percent to 779,441 units.
Mercedes-Benz suffered a decline of 6.5 percent decline in deliveries during the same period.

These are excerpts from Reuters.
Again 001Buster is lying.

Roughly 6 percent up for Audi not 14%.

Sales in its largest market, Germany, rose by 9 percent to just over 101,000 cars which is a small number.

Audi AG makes up the core of parent Volkswagen's only profitable industrial division, the Audi Brand Group

The carmaker, over 99 percent owned by parent Volkswagen, that's why Audi uses VW crap parts.

US SALES FALL not surprisingly.


In the United States, though, customers bought only 6,455 Audis in May, a 6.1 percent drop for the month and a 1.7 percent dip year-to-date.

When asked what caused the fall, he said that Audi was willing to sacrifice market share to preserve its profitability in an industry dominated by heavy incentives.
Last year Audi brand sales rose 1.2 percent to 779,441 units.
Mercedes-Benz suffered a decline of 6.5 percent decline in deliveries during the same period.

These are excerpts from Reuters.
Again 001Buster is lying.

These total numbers are so damn tiny..whether U.S. only or worldwide.
entire Audi's total yearly sales was only 779.441 and that is very tiny numbers..(i.e. Toyota sells 8 million units per.) Audi AG makes up the core of parent Volkswagen's (VW owns 99% of Audi and Audi uses extensive VW parts, lucky for Audi) only profitable company...with lingering few percent up or down overall...eitherway...with Lexus, Infiniti and Acura raising stakes at a breakneck speed...it seems to me these small overpriced cars are already trying to just "stay alive"..pretty damn sad.

These total numbers are so damn tiny..whether U.S. only or worldwide.
entire Audi's total yearly sales was only 779.441 and that is very tiny numbers..(i.e. Toyota sells 8 million units per.) Audi AG makes up the core of parent Volkswagen's (VW owns 99% of Audi and Audi uses extensive VW parts, lucky for Audi) only profitable company...with lingering few percent up or down overall...eitherway...with Lexus, Infiniti and Acura raising stakes at a breakneck speed...it seems to me these small overpriced cars are already trying to just "stay alive"..pretty damn sad.

e-s-f...is this a contradiction in your statement?

It's more like VW is being Audi-ized, with its stupid Phaeton luxury sedan, and the luxury Toureg SUV, and the upcoming sportback to be in between the Passat and the Pheaton.

and you said on the next paragraph in regards to VW platforms used in following including an "Audi":
The Bentley Continental GT/Flying Spur use them, as do the Volkswagen Pheaton, Audi A8, Audi Q7, Volkswagen Toureg, PORSCHE CAYENNE, Audi TT, Volkswagen Passat, Seat Leon, and anything else except the Bentley Arnage in the VW Group!

VW should be using Audi platforms instead otherway around..get it? That's why I said Audi is becoming VWized..its practically an VW all over Audi as the previous poster stated pretty well"its a donkey in a sheep's clothing" which is Audi..btw to prove farthermore being overpriced ..how could a VW / Audi hybrid be charged $120 grand i.e. A8 w/average reliability?

e-s-f...is this a contradiction in your statement?

It's more like VW is being Audi-ized, with its stupid Phaeton luxury sedan, and the luxury Toureg SUV, and the upcoming sportback to be in between the Passat and the Pheaton.

and you said on the next paragraph in regards to VW platforms used in following including an "Audi":
The Bentley Continental GT/Flying Spur use them, as do the Volkswagen Pheaton, Audi A8, Audi Q7, Volkswagen Toureg, PORSCHE CAYENNE, Audi TT, Volkswagen Passat, Seat Leon, and anything else except the Bentley Arnage in the VW Group!

VW should be using Audi platforms instead otherway around..get it? That's why I said Audi is becoming VWized..its practically an VW all over Audi as the previous poster stated pretty well"its a donkey in a sheep's clothing" which is Audi..btw to prove farthermore being overpriced ..how could a VW / Audi hybrid be charged $120 grand i.e. A8 w/average reliability?

Audi bashers are so ignorant of German cars.

I apologize in advance for sounding harsh, but it's sad how some people, mostly ignorant American car fans, constantly state that Audi is a dressed up VW. Sad.

Some facts, once again.

- The A4 is its own platform, NOT SHARED BY VW.

- The A6 is its own platform, NOT SHARED BY VW.

- All new Audi's from the A4 up use the advanced ‘Torsen’ differential all-wheel drive system (quattro). 60% rear, 40% front, permanent. Up to 100% of power can be transferred to either the front or rear axels.

- VW's use the less advanced 'Haldex' all-wheel drive (4-motion). Its front drive by default. Up to 50% of the power can be temporarily sent to the back wheels.

- Audi has it's own seperate technology division (apart from VW), and it's own high-performance division (quattro GmbH). Audi separated its technology from VW 5 years ago. They do still share VW's massive cash and some technology of course. That's just good business.

- Audi has its own design teams (exterior/interior/technology/ergonomics, etc.), NOT SHARED BY VW.

- Audi manufactures most of its engines and sells them at cost to VW. Audi is one of the world’s largest engine providers. The all aluminum 260 HP Audi 3.2 FSI (actual a 3.1 liter engine) IS NOT the same as the metal-bodied 250 HP R32 from VW.

- Unlike Acura, Infiniti, and Lexus, most Audi models are built in Audi-only manufacturing plants.

So when someone states that an Audi A4 is a Jetta (two completely different platforms) , they are simply showing how ignorant they are.

I suppose it’s difficult for some to accept the truth: that Audi is selling just as well as MB and BMW. Actually, considering Audi has a smaller model line-up (to be filled in by 2010), it’s doing relevively better proportionately than its German competition.

Don’t get me wrong, I think that both MB and BMW make superb cars on the whole. But Audi is right there with them, creating cars that are every bit as compelling as the other two German lux brands. And with cars like the A8 and RS4, Audi is also taking the lead, one model at a time.

... Remember, we're talking about the world market.

Audi is a massive success internationally. Remarkably, the company has grown while the industry as a whole has declined. 80% of Audi's markets have shown growth.

Yes, Audi is doing relatively poorly in America. But America is not the world.

Americans won't catch up to the rest of the world for at least another 5 years when it comes to Audi (thanks 60 Minutes).

Yet despite America, Audi is still doing just as well as BMW and MB. And in most markets, a lot better.

Audi has arrived. It's a tier one company.

Get used to it.

And stop whining.