BMW Banking On AWD 3-Series To Catch Mercedes-Benz In Sales

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is betting a new all wheel-version-drive of its 3 series sedan will help catch a resurgent Mercedes that has outsold BMW all year long in the U.S. market.

The perennial race among BMW, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus in the U.S. has become more important than ever. A slowing economy in China and a five-year slump in Europe have raised the stakes in the U.S., where premium cars continue to sell briskly.

Read Article

pepito66 - 9/17/2012 11:30:38 AM

+4 Boost

Great for US ,great for BMW and MB ,the competitions is hard and provide better cars us.

Agent009 - 9/17/2012 1:18:33 PM

-3 Boost

Funny how they are counting on a variation of a product they never believed in. can they say q,qqqq,qqqqqqq..quattro?

bmwM3 - 9/17/2012 3:08:59 PM

+4 Boost

BMW has been making AWD 3 series since 1987.

JRobUSC - 9/17/2012 3:50:42 PM

+4 Boost

they probably never expected to need front wheel drive economy cars to stay in front, either, you can thanks Audi's A1/A2/A3 and the Mercedes A/B-class for those as well. When all the media and the fanboys care about is the sales figures, and your competition gets hundreds of thousands of sales from them a year and you don't have anything comparable, this is what you end up with.

chewy - 9/17/2012 5:43:05 PM

-1 Boost

What does this have to do with all wheel drive? If anything as the cars grew in size luxury brands have added models to slot in lower but are essentially the same size as previous generations. This makes sense as vehicle size and fuel consumption plays a much bigger role in Europe. Say with the A3 sedan Audi will now be selling a sedan about the size of the first A4 while the A4 has grown to E35 5 series size.

Plus you do remember the 318ti "Compact" don't you? It was a 1 series by another name from the early 1990s.

Car4Life - 9/18/2012 10:18:10 AM

+2 Boost

I love how Audi, Lexus, and BMW contantly talk about being the top seller or #1 in sales, while Mercedes just does what they do best...Make Luxury Cars and keep it moving

chewy - 9/18/2012 2:32:17 PM

+1 Boost

I'm pretty sure they do the exact same thing in their press releases depending on how much they sell.