Anything BMW Does, Audi Does Better? BMW Chief Says US Diesel Sales Are Disappointing

Please point out how Audi "does better" the article doesn't even mention Audi.

My 2014 BMW X5 Diesel has 1,800 miles on it.

I am a little disappointed with the fuel mileage.

Getting 34 MPG with Combined City/Highway driving.

However, only 36 MPG with Highway driving. I had been hoping to get closer to 40 MPG.

Maybe MPG will improve as the vehicle gets broken-in.

Cars Are Fun

Audi has great success with diesel models.

Not in the U.S. and BMW does huge diesel business worldwide

009, I can't tell anymore if you are just drinking the Kool-Aid, or selling it alongside GermanNut.

"Audi has great success with diesel models." -Agent009

Yes, Audi sold almost as many A7 diesels as Cadillac sold ELR's last month. And Audi sold 8 more A8 diesels than ELR's. Great success indeed. We should throw them a parade.

Audi is enjoying phenomenal diesel success in the U.S. market. In fact, last year Audi expanded its 'TDI Clean Diesel' range to include the Q5, A6, A7 and A8 models in addition to the existing Q7. Later this year Audi will add an A3 Sedan diesel variant and the new 2015 A4 will also be available with a diesel in the U.S. market.

Audi has done a much better job of marketing the benefits of TDI Clean Diesel and customers are taking notice. BMW's marketing of the benefits of diesel are nowhere near as comprehensive as Audi's and it's not surprising the results for BMW are disappointing.

June sales mix for Audi TDI models: Audi A6 TDI at 18.2% on 398 vehicles sold; Audi A7 TDI at 13% on 89 vehicles; A8 TDI at 17.9% on 105 vehicles; Audi Q5 TDI at 15.6% on 627 vehicles, and for the Audi Q7 TDI at 31.5% on 450 vehicles; with an overall mix of 14.9% on 1,692 total TDI sales for June.

you were making a stronger case for yourself before you actually presented the figures. Now that you've provided the actual sales numbers, it is clear the difference is in brand expectations and hype/spin, because I can't think of any brand (other than Audi) that would be beating their chests about those monthly sales totals. I mean seriously, 89 units? 105 units? 398 units? The fact that those meager sales make up double digit percentages of the overall model sales speaks more to the awful sales of Audi's models as a whole than it does to the "awesome super duper diesel numbers". The fact that 398 diesel A6's make up 18.6% of all A6 sales means sales of the A6 are marginal to begin with, not that diesels are selling like hotcakes. Mercedes sold three times as many E-classes, and BMW sold almost four times as many 5-Series last month. Same thing goes for the 105 A8 diesels making up 17.9% of all A8's. The only model Audi is legitimately doing solid diesel business with is the Q5 SUV, and guess what? BMW and Benz sell plenty of diesel SUV's, too. Otherwise Audi's diesel figures only look good because the rest of their sales are so low, the only reason we're even hearing about it is because Audi happens to be the only ones crowing about how awesome they are.

If you don't have the equivalent set of numbers for BMW you can't draw any comparison.

You want a comparison figure? Ok. Cadillac sold 97 ELR's last month. What is the public perception of how sales are going for that car? How many articles have been written about the ELR being a total flop on this website alone? Meanwhile you have Audi beating their chest about 89 A7 diesels and 105 A8 diesels, and websites like this one agreeing with them and giving them a forum to do so. Let those marketing dollars speak, boys, and spin, spin, spin!

JRob, how about you find BMW's percentage breakdown of diesel sales to overall model sales first. I bet the percentage of diesel sales for BMW will be much lower than Audi's. Sure, the absolute number will be larger because BMW sells a lot more cars in the U.S. than Audi does, but to get a true sense of how BMW's diesel sales are going you would need the percentage breakdown.

The BMW marketing department sucks. Its been all downhill since the "BMW Films" of 2002 or so - which were fantastic. Or maybe because the engineering department is so great, they basically suck the oxygen out of any conference room where a product positioning discussion is being held. Its like the marketing is being planned and executed by the engineers and product planners.

Mercedes, VW, and Audi have all done a great job differentiating the "diesel" product in the eyes of the consumer - MB with their "bluetek" brand; and VW/Audi with their "Clean Diesel" and "TDI" monikers. Similarily, MB has their "AMG" designation and Audi has their "S-Line" to denote the sportier cars. BMW has "M" out there but nothing in the middle.

BMW's on the other hand are cluttered up with all kinds of bizarre, mixed messages - "S-Drive" / "X-Drive", a 328 (both gas and diesel) that really has a 2.0 4-cylinder engine (Audi and VW win the "truth in advertising" awards by putting accurate 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 badges on their cars to denote the engine size).

Sport package cars don't get any badging (aside from the gratutious spoilers and plastic ground effects stuff) and the luxury designation is the same - all trim, no badging.

The BMW vehicle badging is simply a mish-mosh. They seem almost "ashamed" to be selling a diesel.

SOLUTION - give the BMW marketing department some teeth and get the engineers out of those meetings!

By the way - I am a very satisfied Mercedes customer who drives a GL350 bluetek (6,000 pound, 7-seater SUV) that averages in the mid to high 25MPG - 27MPG range.

I didn't purchase it to get great mileage or to "make a statement" - I bought it because it can go 600 - 700 miles on a tank - which is a HUGE time-saver. Also, during Hurricane Sandy last year, when gas stations in the NYC metro area were completely out of unleaded gas for about 8 weeks (because the gas-port terminals on the rivers/ocean were destroyed), there was plenty of diesel around. My neighbor had a Ford F350 with the duramax diesel and he drove around all he wanted and filled up all he wanted. Next time a storm comes around - I'll be set.

Also, the Mercedes Diesel is very smooth and well-isolated. I drove a 328d recently and it did not emit a pleasant engine sound.

Also - question for BMW - what the "f" does "Efficient Dynamics" mean? Its been plastered on every gas-guzzling, oil-burning, V8 or I-6, twin-turbo 12 MPG BMW for the last 5 years. As such, it really means nothing! Its just lip-service, as if your customers wouldn't know the difference.

The only BMW's that get halfway decent gas mileage are the 4 cylinder and diesel ones - they are the only cars in the lineup that deserve the "Efficient Dynamics" badging.

Perhaps it's just a little to complicated for Americans

I seriously considered the diesel X3, but I'm not going to pay $55,000+ for something that size, and that's not completely optioned out. If it was in the high 40s for a reasonably equipped model, I would have one in my driveway.

If they really want to succeed with diesels, they need to come up with a better name, since diesel is associated with low brow trucks and farm equipment. I vote for Vortex, or possibly Thor's Hammer.

Biggest issues with diesel cars are 1) US consumer misinformation, lack of information or misperception about diesel powered passenger vehicles, 2) Higher prices charges for diesel cars in US than gas cars, 3) Relatively higher price for "clean" diesel than even premium gas, and 4) Lack of diesel pumps (or perceived lack) at many US gas stations.