Hyundai, Audi, And Land Rover Outpaced European Competiton In 2012

Audi No. 1 premium

Audi was Europe's top-selling premium brand in 2012. The VW Group subsidiary increased sales 4 percent to 704,219 units. BMW was No. 2 in Europe with flat sales at 641,083 vehicles while Mercedes-Benz ranked third as sales declined 1 percent to 586,631. Audi's success helped it pass volume carmakers Citroen and Fiat to finish last year at Europe's sixth-biggest brand overall.

In worldwide sales, Audi trailed BMW 1.54 million to 1.45 million. Mercedes was third at 1.32 million.

….because we couldn't read that in the article ourselves?

Not sure about Land Rover but I'd bet its because Hyundai is cheaper than the Japanese, and Audi is cheaper than BMW and MB.

Do we sell the fake economy Jeeps in Europe?

Nice try, HughJass. The reason why Audi outsold BMW and Mercedes-Benz in Europe is because Audi's lineup includes a compelling blend of design, performance, technology and innovation that matches or exceeds BMW and Mercedes-Benz's for a discounted price.

When you offer the same or better quality product for a lower price guess what happens? YOU WIN.

No wonder Audi also outsells BMW and Mercedes-Benz in China, the world's largest car market.

Pretty soon Audi will outsell BMW and Mercedes-Benz globally once it expands its model lineup even further to include a very high-end Q8 SUV along with an A3 sedan and Q3 compact SUV in the U.S. market so U.S. consumers can realize what the rest of the world already knows.

So what you're saying is Audi is bringing more A3 variants to compete against high-end Accords?

Compare a 1 series, A3 and Accord EX-L. The Accord isn't the cheapest car on that list and that isn't even the top Touring trim level (doesn't have a V6 or NAV). The 1 series costs 4 grand more than the A3.

Why doesn't Audi price their cars higher than BMW & Mercedes then?

Why does an R8 supercar cost the same as an M6 when the R8 by all accounts blows the doors off of the 6?

Just like Apple can command a price premium over Google, BMW & Mercedes can do the same over Audi.
Toyota easily outsells KIA & Hyundai combined while charging more by model and spending less on advertising to convince people the Koreans did in 5 years what Japan took 30 to develop. We all saw how that worked out with the mileage and HP claims.

Audi outsells because they were first in the market and the Chinese government drives Audis. Chinese people love to feel important so they drive what the government drives, maybe trying to fool people into thinking they're China's next premier or something.

Sportbike,
I'd have to disagree, I think Lexus is less or the same as Audi.

Audis are cheaper because Audi has lower production costs than BMW since it is part of the VAG and Audi passes those costs savings into consumers.

Audi is more profitable than BMW because its production cost is lower.

Audi could charge more and make even more profit but it realizes it has a more efficient cost structure than BMW and can therefore undercut the competition in price while offering equal or better quality.

That is called a winning formula.