Hot! The 2012 U.S. Sales Battle: Mercedes vs BMW

[///K]

CANADA

1) Mercedes-Benz - 33,116, +6.6%
2) BMW - 31,402, +5.5%
3) Audi - 20,000, +18.6%
4) Acura - 17,154, +12.3%
5) Lexus - 15,101, +13%
6) Infiniti - 7,993, +15.2%
7) Volvo - 5,578, -18.2%
8) Land Rover - 4,268, +32.2%

Mercedes takes the lead in Canada. BMW not too far behind and Audi is creeping.

-desrosiers

 

[K-A]

The Ford stock is still a good investment though.

M

Yeah I think the stock is poised to have a good 2013. Also new Mustang coming out this year can't hurt.

 

[EnI]

CANADA

1) Mercedes-Benz - 33,116, +6.6%
2) BMW - 31,402, +5.5%
3) Audi - 20,000, +18.6%
4) Acura - 17,154, +12.3%
5) Lexus - 15,101, +13%
6) Infiniti - 7,993, +15.2%
7) Volvo - 5,578, -18.2%
8) Land Rover - 4,268, +32.2%

Mercedes takes the lead in Canada. BMW not too far behind and Audi is on crack.

-desrosiers

WRONG!
Again those MB figures include Sprinter van sales - a model which is neither a luxury car nor a passenger car!!!

According to Daimler's PR on 2012 Canadian market: "Mercedes-Benz passenger car and luxury light truck sales totaled 30,106 units for the year, shattering last year's impressive sales records by 5.3% or 1,522 vehicles."

• Mercedes-Benz passenger car and luxury light truck sales with 30,106 units (up 5.3%)
• Mercedes-Benz Sprinter sales with 3,010 units (up 21.4%)

(30,106 + 3,010 = 33,116 indeed)

Source: http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1095357/mercedes-benz-canada-achieves-the-company-s-best-all-time-sales-results-and-retains-the-number-one-position-in-the-luxury-passenger-car-segment

Meaning BMW remained #1 luxury brand in Canada in 2012: with 31,402 vehicles sold (+5.5%), followed by MB with 30,106 sold units (+5.3%).

 

[Merc1]

Now you can read that press release, but you can't read the other one? Amazing.


M

 

[///K]

• Mercedes-Benz passenger car and luxury light truck sales with 30,106 units (up 5.3%)
• Mercedes-Benz Sprinter sales with 3,010 units (up 21.4%)

(30,106 + 3,010 = 33,116 indeed)


Meaning BMW remained #1 luxury brand in Canada in 2012: with 31,402 vehicles sold (+5.5%), followed by MB with 30,106 sold units (+5.3%).

ahh, I stand corrected. Thanks

 

[EnI]

ahh, I stand corrected. Thanks

It's not your fault, but the media's fault - of issuing false reports & claims. Without even checking the original Daimler press release. Bad journalism!

 

[Merc1]

Mercedes took the clear lead for Jan 2013:

MB: 22,501
BMW: 16,513
Lexus: 16,211

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-auto-sales-latest-news-78253307.html

With all new product coming this year Mercedes has a real chance in the U.S. to take the title for 2013.

M

 

[Sunny]

With all new product coming this year Mercedes has a real chance in the U.S. to take the title for 2013.

M

What is coming? CLA is what 7 months away? Probably too late to make much of a difference this year? Same case with new S too I am guessing. So there is face lifted E which is probably more than canceled by C being in last year? SL sales will probably ramp up. But yea good start to the year.

 

[Merc1]

Yeah all that, CLA, FL E, GL will finally be in full production, S, I think that will make a big difference between Sept-Dec.

M

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Those sales look like MBUSA has just been clearing a lot of inventory in January and not really indicative of the year ahead. Unless AUDI and BMW sold down heavily in November/December in order to pump up the 2012 annual figures, and are now left with less stock for the start of the year?

 

[EnI]

BMW have a traditionally slow start in Q1 in US market ... Nothing new here.

 

[Wolfgang]

Congrats to the winners, Cadillac, Dodge and Lexus.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/01/january-2013-weve-got-a-new-graphic-edition/

 

[Merc1]

Based on the U.S. sales numbers reported at the end of 2012, BMW, excluding its MINI and Rolls-Royce brands, sold 281,460 cars and SUVs last year.

Mercedes-Benz, excluding the Smart brand and its Sprinter vans, sold 274,134 cars and SUVs here.

Simple math shows that BMW outsold Mercedes-Benz by 7,326 units, which is enough for BMW to be declared the winner in the 2012 German luxury car sales wars.

As Mercedes-Benz alleges, however, there’s nothing simple about the math used in new car sales claims.

Today at the International Motor Press Association (IMPA) lunch presentation in New York, Steve Cannon, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz North America, revealed that new car registration data from R.L. Polk paints a different picture than BMW’s sales claims.

In fact, Cannon alleges that Mercedes-Benz beat BMW’s 2012 U.S. deliveries to actual customers by more than 5,000 vehicles. Blame it on fuzzy math, or (more accurately) the difference between cars "sold" and new cars registered.

In 2012, Mercedes-Benz sold 274,134 units, with 274,123 corresponding new-car registrations. That's very little difference, obviously.

BMW, on the other hand, reported sales of 281,460 units, but only 268,498 new BMW vehicles were registered last year--a difference of a whopping 12,962 units, or 4.6 percent.

As Cannon explains, “We’ve run into BMW dealers saying 25 percent of the cars on their lots are sold. We don’t play that game.”

For comparison (and clarity), Lexus claimed sales of 244,166 vehicles in 2012, with 242,533 corresponding registrations, a difference of 1,633 units.

While Cannon declined to say specifically, on the record, that BMW had fudged its sales numbers, he note that the Wall Street Journal wrote last August about specific ways that BMW could alter its sales figures.

One of those methods is for carmakers to report "sales” that are actually cars sold on paper only, used very briefly as dealer demonstrators or loaners, and then sold quickly as very lightly used cars--through special carmaker incentive programs that compensate the dealer for the difference.

We’re fairly certain that BMW will be presenting a different perspective on the matter in the coming days.

Until BMW provides its own accounting, it seems as if Mercedes-Benz may have put more vehicles, specifically 5,625 more vehicles, in U.S. driveways last year.

Our hats are off to the new 2012 German luxury volume leader.

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1082427_did-mercedes-benz-outsell-bmw-in-the-u-s-last-year



M

 

[LaArtist]

^ HA

I always wondered what they think a sale is..is it when the factory sells it to a dealer or is it when it reaches the customer.
To me its when it reaches the customer.

Dealers that buy cars to rot on the lots is none of my interest, as it does not reflect the publics demand of the product.

I wonder what the worldwide situation is with these numbers.. if only in the US BMW differ nearly 13K units.

PS
Waiting for eni to step in and sugar coat this ¨

 

[EnI]

Here you have it, TA ... just for you!

Regarding sales ...

Sale is defined as "the act of selling a product or service in return for money".

So, for a car company it doesn't matter who actually buys a car: a dealer, an individual customer, a corporate customer, a lease corporation etc etc. And the carmaker doesn't if the buyer registers & uses the car immediately, or sometimes later.The car is sold - the carmaker got the purchase money, so ...

Registrations are also not necessarily a good indicator for sales ... since factory vehicles, prototypes, test cars etc are also registered but not sold to anyone at all. That's especially a problem in countries with large automotive sector.

So, both methods of recording vehicles "sales" have good & bad sides.

Also, some companies (BMW among them) use some sort of "creative sales" - where almost a new car & unused car is sold as a used car for a lower price the new cars. It's a sort of "discount policy" that doesn't affect new cars that customers order. And in some countries it's also a tax issue - and with such stunt there's an even extra discount for an end customer since he's not required to pay a tax for a used car etc.

So, it's all about different ways of offering discounts for actually new cars. It's a complex business model.

And btw, the car sales & car making is a business, not a discipline @ Olympics. In the all it counts is not a number of cars sold or registered ... not a sales position in certain market ... but MONEY. PROFIT. Sure big sales numbers are good for advertising & bragging ... but for the company all it counts is PROFIT.

 

[Merc1]

Yawn. We know all that, still doesn't change anything stated in the article.

Sold to dealer, BMW wins. Sold to actual living, human beings, Mercedes wins.

M

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Any halfwit knows BMW did this just to retain the title.

 

[LaArtist]

Here you have it, TA ... just for you!

Regarding sales ...

Sale is defined as "the act of selling a product or service in return for money".

So, for a car company it doesn't matter who actually buys a car: a dealer, an individual customer, a corporate customer, a lease corporation etc etc. And the carmaker doesn't if the buyer registers & uses the car immediately, or sometimes later.The car is sold - the carmaker got the purchase money, so ...

Registrations are also not necessarily a good indicator for sales ... since factory vehicles, prototypes, test cars etc are also registered but not sold to anyone at all. That's especially a problem in countries with large automotive sector.

So, both methods of recording vehicles "sales" have good & bad sides.

Also, some companies (BMW among them) use some sort of "creative sales" - where almost a new car & unused car is sold as a used car for a lower price the new cars. It's a sort of "discount policy" that doesn't affect new cars that customers order. And in some countries it's also a tax issue - and with such stunt there's an even extra discount for an end customer since he's not required to pay a tax for a used car etc.

So, it's all about different ways of offering discounts for actually new cars. It's a complex business model.

And btw, the car sales & car making is a business, not a discipline @ Olympics. In the all it counts is not a number of cars sold or registered ... not a sales position in certain market ... but MONEY. PROFIT. Sure big sales numbers are good for advertising & bragging ... but for the company all it counts is PROFIT.

Hhaha creative sales.. funneehhh

Seriously though.. lets paint a scenario.
I reckon that some BMW dealers around the world and mainly in Germany are owned by BMW themselves..
For example the BMW welt thingy..
SOOO.. if BMW buys lets say 100000 cars from themselves..and pay themselves..is it then 100K cars sold?
Its like an artist buying his own records in hope to sell them one day

And yes i do agree profits is the main thing..hence im the one of few who calls out time after time to post the profits of the company's.

How about we put the 2012 numbers down in a thread, they should be in by now right?


But still when looking at profits, with a company like BMW it should then be taken with a grain of salt, as some of those profits might be inflated by their OWN dealerships buying their OWN cars to boost profits...?

 

[Sunny]

But still when looking at profits, with a company like BMW it should then be taken with a grain of salt, as some of those profits might be inflated by their OWN dealerships buying their OWN cars to boost profits...?

Except there are accounting rules to what can be booked as sales, profits and that is audited regularly. Unless you have proof BMW is cooking books, you should for the lack of better term - STFU.

 

[LaArtist]

^Don't be so upset..

I did not say they are cooking them..nor do i know what the rules are.. ( please enlighten us as you have the nerve to tell me to STFU)

Maybe its inside the rules to sell cars to your COMPANY owned dealers.. and call it sales which in terms generate profit.

If so.. good for them..enjoy the glitch .. if not ..then yes indeed they cooked the books!