Who's gonna win 2013? Audi/BMW/MB

[Tumbo]

Another successful year for Audi.

Congrats to BMW!

 

[chonkoa]

Audi still isn't even close to BMW in the U.S. so saying they're closing the gap quite fast is somewhat false hype.

M

You are right- just looked at the data a bit differently.

 

[jessicawidjaya]

Mercedes is coming up strong in china. Though the growth in the year of 2013 isn't that great, but the December sales figure depicts a different picture. This is due to the fact that the E class is only available in the latter half of the year. Having said that the e class still trail behind both the a6 and 5 series.





As for the c class segment, the new c is obvious to be a best seller in future. The only question is how fast mercedes is able to bring it to the Chinese market. Mercedes should value the Chinese market more than any other market and make china the first place on earth to get hold of the latest c.

However as far as I am concerned,s class has ruled the market segment and will continue to do so with the new model.

With this 3 strong model, I believe mercedes will do well in china for 2014

 

[Amat46]

Also to be noted that eventough BMW and Audi sold more cars than Merc, the percentage of growth is higher for Merc compared to the other two

 

[EnI]

Also to be noted that eventough BMW and Audi sold more cars than Merc, the percentage of growth is higher for Merc compared to the other two

Yep, but that's due to two reasons mainly:
1. new or completely revamped high-volume models introduced
2. MB has finally resolved the issue with dealership network in China

So, it's natural MB growth has been higher compared to BMW & Audi. The growth generated by closing the gap in China due to dealership issue is to flatten, so the CLA, GLA & the revamped C-class & S-class sales will be sales growth generator for MB in 2014. .

Audi ... A3 sedan will generate the sales growth mostly in 2014. What else? Facelifed A6/A7, I guess. While the new A4, Q7 & TT are coming in very late 2014 or even in 2015? What will push Audi further is the next high volume model - and that is a city car based on VW Up! and a Q1 mini-SUV.

BMW ... I guess the new 2er series (especially the 2er Active Tourer) will push the sales growth for BMW in 2014. To some extent X4, 4er GC & i3 too. Revamped X5 & X6 will generate some growth too (although X5 sales have been already high) , facelifted 1er & X3 will contribute to sales growth too.

But mainly the growth now is to be generated by product portfolio expansion - especially with the new downsized high-volume models, and with numerous mid-sized & full-sized niche models.

Not to mention the race will also depend on how quickly the production capacities will be expanded - especially in China, USA & Latin America. Since all 3 experience high demand which is very much limited by limited production capacities (for certain models).

 

[mini_cooper4]

Also to be noted that eventough BMW and Audi sold more cars than Merc, the percentage of growth is higher for Merc compared to the other two

And that's the reason there in bold. It's also logical since MB sold 100s of thousands cars less than its competitors last year.
Let me explain it:
That only means that their growth is finally closer to Audi's and BMW's.
Audi's and BMW's lower % growth over 2013 is mainly because of their big sales figures from the previous 2013 year.
In reality their growth in sales might be better than MB's.

PS: I hear about Audi overtaking BMW since 2005... 9 years later it still didn't happen.
It's not going to happen now since their growth rate is going out of the "BOOM" phase and is going steady just like BMW. China is starting to go steady and going out of the "BOOM" phase too ("It will be just like Germany. Only bigger."). Meaning that the market share for premium Automobiles in China will soon be split more evenly.
IMO no one will be able to dethrone BMW in the near future. They might even extend their gap.

 

[Wolfgang]

MB exceeded their goal of 1.4 million last year. For 2014 they may plan on 1.5 million I believe.
Autonews published this graph a while back.