As the market dynamics gets tougher and more challenging, latest figures last month showed that Mercedes managed to surpass its rivals BMW and Audi thanks to its new versions of the A and B-Class compact vehicles.
During the month, Mercedes deliveries increased 12% to 116,566 vehicles, while BMW jumped 7.5% to 130,598 units and Audi was up 6.6% to 133,500 units. Daimler plans by the end of this decade to regain the no.1 place in the luxury auto sales, which it lost to BMW eight years ago. Last year, Mercedes transformed it’s A-Class into a sportier model to rival the BMW 1-Series and the Audi A3.
“I expect Mercedes to catch up somewhat with BMW and Audi in the second half of the year, mainly due to demand for the compact models and the E-Class” upscale vehicles, Juergen Pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Bankhaus Metzler, said in a phone interview.
Taking a look at the figures for the first four months of this year, BMW’s sales increased faster compared with its rivals, with a rise of 7.1% to 512,000 vehicles, compared with Audi’s increase of 6.7% to 503,000 vehicles and Mercedes’ increase of 5.6% to 441,464 vehicles.
BMW’s sales momentum “will continue as we add new vehicles throughout the year to our very attractive product line-up, such as the new BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo,” Ian Robertson, the carmaker’s sales chief, said in a statement today.
Mercedes plans to boost sales with its new CLA four-door coupe and the fresh version of the E-Class, but also on the new flagship S-Class which is to reach showrooms during the second half of 2013.
