Mercedes Rapidly Closing In On BMW For Global Sales Lead

Mercedes-Benz boosted sales twice as fast as BMW in the first quarter, moving the brand closer to clinching the lead in the world's luxury-car market for the first time in a decade.

The Daimler luxury unit's brand deliveries soared 13 percent worldwide to 483,487 vehicles through March, data from the automaker showed last week, compared with a 6 percent increase to 478,743 cars for BMW Group's namesake brand, announced in a statement today.

Sales of third-placed Audi rose 4 percent to 455,750 in the first three months, the Volkswagen Group unit said in a statement today.

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hangtime010 - 4/12/2016 10:27:55 AM

+4 Boost

Wouldn't "closing in" mean that M-B is still behind BMW?
The totals say that M-B is in the lead by 4,744.
Why isn't Lexus' global sales numbers ever reported???

GermanNut - 4/12/2016 11:23:44 AM

+1 Boost

Because Lexus sells about half of what the 3 Germans do globally per year.

USNA1999 - 4/12/2016 12:32:52 PM

+3 Boost

Actually LEXUS only sells 1/3 of MB, BMW and AUDI. They will probably never catch up, LEXUS is just a North American phenomenon.

TheSteve - 4/12/2016 4:24:29 PM

0 Boost

hangtime010: The confusion is because the article cites North American unit sales numbers, while the "Rapidly Closing In On BMW" statement in the subject refers to global unit sales (BMW=1,905,234 (excludes MINI & Rolls Royce) while MB=1,871,511)

hangtime010 - 4/12/2016 12:49:53 PM

+4 Boost

I wanted to see if any Lexsux fanboi would respond with something utterly unbelievable. Haven't they been relentlessly pursuing perfection for 26 years. They must be pretty tired trying to take over the world and getting nowhere outside the US.
Nice cars as they are, but almost all of them offer no emotion.

TomM - 4/12/2016 4:00:53 PM

+3 Boost

Actually Lexus has - over the years - become very good at supplying cars to many aging senior Americans - the ES is always on their list. It is essentially a Buick - made in Japan. Most of the Cars produced by Lexus would have no chance in Europe - where they would be considered MUSH. What they offer is comfort and quiet and reliability to the people who do not have sporting requirements for their cars - again a Buick Like car.

THeir current styling (Or lack thereof) aside - the cars they can actually sell in reasonable numbers are simply not what people would want in a premium product in most areas of the world.

TheSteve - 4/13/2016 1:31:56 PM

+1 Boost

hangtime010 wrote "...Nice cars as they are, but almost all of them offer no emotion..."

That's not true. They evoke a strong emotion of revulsion within me :-/

TheSteve - 4/12/2016 4:22:40 PM

0 Boost

Are the numbers in this article US or North American sales, because according to this link (http://performancedrive.com.au/lexus-global-sales-hit-record-high-2015-big-increase-2014-0314/) Lexus sold 368,000 units in North America in 2015, and 652,000 globally.

So according to the numbers cited in this article:

(1) The top luxury car manufacturers, as measured by unit sales, are Mercedes, BMW, and Audi (listed #1, 2 and 3). [Super luxury cars, like Rolls Royce and Bentley, are obviously not contenders)

(2) The oft-maligned Audi (No.3) sells 94% of the No.1 spot's volume, and the well-loved BMW (No.2) sells 99% of the No.1 spot's volume. That's a close race!

(3) By comparison, Lexus sells 76% of the No.1 spot's volume in North America. Lexus's North American sales account for 56% of their global sales.

(4) If we talk 2015 Global sales, we see:
BMW...... 1,905,234 (excludes MINI & Rolls Royce)
Mercedes: 1,871,511 (98% of No.1)
Audi....: 1,803,250 (94.6% of No.1)
Lexus...: 652,000 (34% of No.1)
Still, a close race, except for Lexus.

skytop - 4/13/2016 6:59:39 AM

+1 Boost

MB has a far better design proficiency responding to market needs.
The new E Class and C Class cars are going to send Mercedes sales rocketing. BMW cars are now looking dowdy.