BMW has finally released it's worldwide sales for February, which means the comparisons between the German three can begin.
So how did things go?
Mercedes handled the recession worse than both Audi and BMW, having it's sales fall by 28% from 88,000 to 63,600. The Smart brand helped cushion Daimler's fall by declining by only 2% from 8,800 in '08 to 8,600. For the month of February, Daimler was down 25% with sales of 72,200 from 96,800 in '09.
BMW did slightly better declining by 24% with '09 February sales of 68,803, compared to 90,449 for the same period in 2008. But unlike Daimler that had the help of Smart, BMW wasn't so lucky as the Mini brand fell 27% to 11,583 from 15,919 in 2009. BMW group's total sales declined by 24% to 80,453 from 106,368.
Audi came out of February with the best results, do in part to it's comparatively small exposure to the falling US market. Their sales for February 2008 were down by only 11% from the 71,000 in 2008 to 63,000 in 2009.
Sales breakdown:
Mercedes: -28% (63,600 from 88,000)
BMW: -24% (68,803 from 90,449)
Audi: -11% (63,000 from 71,000)
Mini: -27% (11,583 from 15,919)
Smart: -2% (8,600 from 8,800)
Daimler: -25% (72,200 from 96,800)
BMW group: -24% (80,453 from 106,368)