Analysis of Sales of the Three Luxury Brands in April

In April 2013, Audi's global sales volume increased by 6.6% from the same period last year to 133,500 units. It took the world's luxury car market sales championship, which was the second time in a year after it surpassed BMW to win the global luxury car market. The BMW brand's sales volume rose 7.5% to 130,600 units in the month, ranking second. The sales of Mercedes-Benz were 116,600, which was relatively unfavorable, but its 11.7% increase was the highest among the three.

Judging from the cumulative sales in the previous four months, the top three luxury brands ranked BMW, Audi and Mercedes in order of sales volume. Among them, the sales volume of the first two companies exceeded 500,000 units, reaching 512,200 units and 530,300 units respectively; while Mercedes-Benz's sales volume was significantly different from the previous two units, with 441,500 units sold, which was less than the sales volume of BMW and Audi in the same period last year (both at 47 More than 10,000 cars). The overall sales growth of the three companies has slowed down. The growth rate between January and April this year was between 5% and 8%, while the increase in Audi and BMW last year was still above double digits.

In the major Chinese, US, and European markets in the world, how the sales of the above-mentioned three major luxury brands perform is shown below.

Chinese market: Audi brands have the highest sales and increase in April and January-April

In the world's largest-selling Chinese market, Audi brand sales (including Hong Kong) continued to dominate the entire luxury car segment, and the increase was among the highest among these three luxury brands. Audi recorded double-digit sales growth in China in April and January-April this year: April sales increased by 13.1% to 38,700 units, and increased by 13.9% from January to April to 141,500 units. At the same time, Audi's sales volume in China accounted for 30% of its total global sales. It accounted for 28.1% of the total in January-April this year, which was higher than the same period last year.

The sales of BMW brand in China (only mainland China) in April this year also increased rapidly, up 11.8% from the same period of last year to 28,300, and accumulatively increased by 8.5% to 108,800 from January to April. BMW China accounted for only 20% of BMW's global sales, which accounted for 21.3% in January-April.

Compared with Audi and BMW, sales and growth of Mercedes-Benz in China (including Hong Kong) are relatively low: April sales increased by 5.4% to 18,600 units, and sales in January-April increased by 6.6% to 61,900 units. Mercedes-Benz sales in China account for about 15% of Mercedes-Benz's total global sales, which accounted for 14.0% from January to April this year.

US market: BMW sales exceeded Mercedes-Benz’s highest in April in April

In the U.S. market, sales of Audi and BMW brands grew rapidly in April this year and both grew by double digits. The sales volume of the Audi brand in the United States increased by 14.2% year-on-year to 13,200 units. The sales volume was relatively low. The BMW brand sales volume increased by 10.3% to 23,200 units, exceeding the Mercedes-Benz sales volume by 5.8% to 22,300 units, the highest among the three.

From January to April, sales of Audi and Mercedes-Benz in the United States increased rapidly, which were 15.5% and 10.7% year-on-year, respectively, to 47,300 vehicles and 92,800 vehicles. The BMW brand's sales volume in the US from January to April this year rose by 6.7% to 88,100 units.

European market: Mercedes sales in April increased by 13.1% over BMW

In the European market, Audi, the highest-selling luxury brand, sold 66,900 units in April this year, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year. Mercedes-Benz sales grew faster, with a year-on-year increase of 13.1% to 56,300 vehicles, which exceeded BMW's. BMW sales fell 2.9% to 54,200 vehicles.

From January to April, both Audi and BMW's sales in the European market declined, with sales falling 2.0% and 0.3% respectively to 236,700 units and 2,218,800 units. Mercedes-Benz sales increased, with a cumulative increase of 4.2% to 207,000 units.