January 08 US Sales: Audi, BMW, MB ++

[justanthony]

Somehow i don't buy that demand/supply theory. Not becos of Eni of course. But BMW are just too organised to simply have 'forgotten' to supply enuf cars to meet their january quota. They know the market too well and will be well aware of seasonal trends in the market, sales forecasts and demand expectations for new/old products. Especially after the hols.

 

[VroomVroom]

Whoa! What happened there?

Merc and Audi by the looks of it

 

[Merc1]

For it to be a supply problem every factory that produces various BMWs around the world including the factory here in the U.S., would have had to be in some trouble of some kind. In December they shipped over 30K units so of course they wouldn't ship no where near that in January in the U.S. market, which is becoming tough for everyone. Demand is what determines how many units are shipped to dealers under normal circumstances. Now unless various BMW factories were having a problem which would affect various BMW models across the board, there was no "supply" problem. The very same thing happened to Mercedes a few years ago. January "sales" numbers are always low due to huge shipments in Dec. This is normal thing not a crisis or a "supply problem". BMW's numbers will go through the roof once the 1-Seires, M3 and X6 hit the lots.

M

 

[Merc1]

A-ha, so US sales figures are not the sales to the customers but to the dealers? Meaning in Jan 2008 BMW "sold" (= delivered) less cars to dealers, so the dealers pushed the leftovers from December - to clear the inventories? Kind a after-sale action.

Yet the BMW press release says something about huge demand for AWD models also affecting the figures - yet I guess BMW wasn't able to produce / ship them so quickly.


Hmmm ... Is it possible car companies sometimes push a bit more cars in December to the dealers, just to embellish the yearly car sales figures? IMO in 2007 BMW just wanted to exceed sales of 1.5 million units worldwide no matter what.

Btw, eg. EU sales figures are - in contrary to US figures - actually based on new car registration, which is done after the car is delivered to the customer. So EU "sales" numbers show delivery to customers more correctly.

Oh yes, only shipments. There is no way every car dealer can report what they actually sold to actual people in time for respective car companies head offices to draft a sales press release by noon on the next day which is usually the 1st of the next month.

Yes, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Cadillac, all luxury brands and all brands in general run huge sales in December to blow out the year and prop up the numbers. There is no way MB and BMW can sell (ship) 30K units in a normal month and not have a huge glut of vehicles on dealers lots. There might be extra demand for AWD vehicles right now because of the weather in various parts of the U.S. We've had snow here (Chicago area) 3 times in just one week so that might make people want an AWD vehicle, but that still wouldn't have anything to do with every BMW car line. Even if there was a true shortage of AWD BMWs. Clearly the SC plant the build the X5 isn't having a problem.

M

 

[Guibo]

"CPO sales were up 33.8 percent, to 7,313 over the 5,464 reported in the
same month a year ago."

This raises 2 issues:
1) Looks like US customers are going for the perceived value option in this tough economic time. Those sales represent half of new-vehicle BMW brand sales for that month. I don't know what the trend is, but that seems like a lot. +33.8% gain vs double digit losses.
2) CPO=Certified Pre-Owned. Ie, "used." Does this mean 2 reporting methods here? Because I don't see how a CPO car can be considered as "being delivered from manufacturer" or national distributor. This raises also the distinction between wholesale (manufacturer/distributor to retailer) vs retail (retailer to consumer).

 

[FW25]

maybe the huge drop was caused because BMW lost many cars at the port in Jersey City when the Courage tipped. And maybe they kept all the cars at the port for insurance or inspection purpose.

 

[Merc1]

The cars BMW lost at port weren't even on sale yet, 1-Series and M3s, they're matterless in this.

I don't know why we're still looking for a reason here. Sales are sales, and they do drop. There simply wasn't enough demand in Jan after a big shipment in Dec for BMW to justify shipping lots of units in Jan. Sales will pick up greatly as spring and new models arrive.

M

 

[Merc1]

According to a posting on AutoSpies it appears that Maybach sold 7 units in Jan compared to Rolls Royce's 58 units. Yikes. Rolls is on fire and the lights are flickering at Maybach.

Did Your Favorite Brand Live Up To It's New Years Resolution In January? - AutoSpies Auto News


M

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Daimler's deathly silence on Maybach either means that they've really got something good cooking, or they still debating over its future.

 

[Merc1]

Mercedes-Benz announces record Canadian sales for January 2008

The three-pointed star continues to shine brightly in the Great White North. Sales of Mercedes-Benz and Smart combined increased by 39% compared to January 2007. This was the best start to the year in the company’s history. Mercedes-Benz sales were nearly 25% better than January 2007. Sales of the B-Class (not available in the U.S.), C-Class and the E-Class were particularly strong. The most notable sales success was the C-Class, which was recently awarded the title of AJAC’s Best New Luxury Car 2008 (Automobile Journalists Association of Canada). Over 60% of the C-Class sales were 4-Matic models. This is no surprise as there have been record snowfalls in some parts of Canada, and RWD is not the best in these conditions in my experience.

SUV sales (M-Class, GL-Class and R-Class) were on a par with January 2007, but crucially nearly 60% of these sales were diesel models. Many Benz fans will be hoping that the success of diesel in the light trucks persuades Mercedes-Benz Canada to eventually introduce Bluetec across all models. Currently, the only sedan available with diesel technology is the E-Class Bluetec.

U.S. sales increased by 7.1% compared to January 2007. This makes the Canadian performance all the more impressive and 2008 could be an excellent year for the company. It will be interesting to see whether new powertrain technologies are made available for the 2009 model year (in the fall) to boost sales further, such as direct injection gasoline engines or hybrids. Marcus Breitschwerdt, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Canada commented, “On the heels of our best year ever with 16,114 units in 2007, January’s momentum is actually in higher gear and it is no coincidence that this is a record-breaking January for us.” The 2007 combined sales of Mercedes, Maybach and Smart in Canada were a 5.6% improvement over 2006.


BenzInsider.com - The Official Mercedes-Benz Fan Blog Mercedes-Benz announces record Canadian sales for January 2008


M