Although the financial crisis has reaked havoc on the German luxury car manufacturers over the last 6 months, conditions appear to be improving somewhat for BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi.
For the month of March, BMW Group's core BMW brand sold 104,417 vehicles globally, a decline of 17% compared to the same month last year. For the first quarter of 2009 the BMW brand posted a 21% global sales decline to 233,498 vehicles.
Daimler's Mercedes-Benz unit posted a similar 18% global sales decline for the month of March for a total of 98,500 vehicles. For the first quarter of 2009 the Mercedes-Benz brand saw a 25% sales decline compared to 2008 for a total of 216,000 vehicles.
BMW and Mercedes-Benz have seen the largest sales declines in part due to their much larger dependence on the ailing U.S. market.
Volkswagen's flagship luxury brand, Audi, saw its global sales decline 11% for the Month of March to a total of 90,400 units. Audi's first quarter global sales for 2009 declined 16% to 210,200. This continues the trend that sees Audi closing the gap between its larger rivals due to an increase in sales for 2008 combined with significantly smaller global monthly sales declines into 2009 when compared to BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Audi's smaller drop has been attributed to its much smaller reliance on the struggling U.S. market when compared to its competitors.
It should be noted that all 3 manufacturers have new or significantly re-designed models such as the revamped BMW 7-series, Mercedees-Benz E-class, and all new Audi Q5 that should help improve sales somewhat for the rest of the year.
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