BMW has won the luxury global sales race each and every year since 2006, but strong growth from Mercedes-Benz in 2016 so far means the crown may well change hands this year.
Yes, Mercedes sales in the first seven months of 2016 were up a whopping 12% to 1,17 million units, compared to the BMW Group’s increase of 5,6% to 1,14 million units.
Some simple maths reveals that the Stuttgart-based automaker is thus around 30 000 units ahead of its Munich-based rival, with Audi sitting in third on 1,1 million sales (an increase of 5,2%). Just a month before that, the gap was about 20 000.
“It would appear to be inevitable that BMW is losing its lead this year,” Stuart Pearson, a London-based analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, told Automotive News.
“They’re at a weaker point in their product cycle.”
Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, recently added a handful of new and/or updated products to its global line-up, with the Automotive News report suggesting that the GLC crossover and E-Class sedan played a fairly large role in the brand’s 2016 growth.
Does BMW have enough to bounce back in the final months of the year and reclaim the lead? Only time will tell…