[Redline6800]

Audi has climbed to the No.1 spot in the luxury car space, overtaking market leader BMW.

Numbers available for the first quarter of 2013 show that Audi has taken the top slot. Mercedes-Benz has moved up as well to No.2 position, ending BMW's 4 year reign. Sales numbers for the first quarter of 2013 are as follows:

Audi : 2616 units
Mercedes-Benz : 2009 units
BMW : 1465 units (including 55 Minis)

Cumulative figures for last year stood at 9,375 units for BMW, 9003 units for Audi and 7,138 units for Mercedes-Benz. BMW had refused to share its sales numbers from January 2013 onward, with SIAM prompting speculation on a change in the pecking order.



Audi went on a dealer expansion drive last year (ending 2012 with 25 dealerships), along with a fairly aggressive sales & marketing push. It rode on sales of its SUVs (including the new Q3), heavy discounting and stripped-down variants.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene. Thanks for sharing!

[speedy]

we have an existing thread regarding this.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...akes-well.html

[carfreak77]

These are just Q1 results. I'm sure BMW will be back with a bang in the overall yearly figures. Merc appears high as these are sales figures reported to dealers whereas BMW has reported actual sales to customers.

[Tats07]

Originally Posted by Redline6800

BMW had refused to share its sales numbers from January 2013 onward, with SIAM prompting speculation on a change in the pecking order.

If BMW had refused to share the numbers Jan 2013 onward, where did we get the number 1465 from?

[ACM]

It was indeed predicted that Audi would move into the No1 slot by the JFM quarter. But the rise of Mercedes to No2. is the real surprise. It was quite unexpected. Also the Drop in BMW sales is quite surprising. JFM would normally be quite a big quarter due to March and the figures of BMW in JFM are much lower than 1/4th 2012 annual figures infact are close to 1/6th of 2012 annual figures instead of 1/3rd as would be normally expected implying a 50% drop in fortunes in quite a short time frame.

[SrikantDora]

Mercedes moving to the second slot is more surprising than Audi taking over BMW. AFAIK C Class is at the end of its life cycle & is due for a complete make over, B class is not selling too well for them, that leaves me wondering from where Mercedes is getting its volumes?

This is disappointing to see BMW struggling at number 3 because with the launch of all new 3 series, which of course is the best 3 series ever made, we all speculated that the Bavarian's had a winner at their hand & it would change their fortune [It is changing their fortune in a negative direction ].

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by Redline6800

Audi has climbed to the No.1 spot in the luxury car space, overtaking market leader BMW.

With the rate in which Audi's sales were growing over the past few quarters, they moving to the No.1 spot is not really surprising. What really is surprising though, is the strong showing by Mercedes-Benz. Not really long ago, they were a laughing stock in this very forum with people banging them for not acting quickly and coming up with new models like their competitors were doing. And now, they are here, even before the launch of potential big-sellers like the A-Class, CLA and the GLA.

By the way, there should be something wrong with BMW's sales figures. I don't see any reason for such a huge drop in their numbers, when the new 3-Series and X1 are garnering nothing but praises from the critics and the owners.

[Bingeljell]

Originally Posted by arvi86

....By the way, there should be something wrong with BMW's sales figures. I don't see any reason for such a huge drop in their numbers, when the new 3-Series and X1 are garnering nothing but praises from the critics and the owners.

So there is definitely something wrong with the figures. The SIAM Deputy Director General sent out a mail regarding the fact that they haven't received data from BMW from Jan onward.

So what is the source of the BMW sales for JFM?

Personally, I've always been a bigger fan of the Merc than the BMW, however the new 3 series is pretty sweet, so I'm very on the fence with regards to my emotions on this one.

[rohanjf]

Looks like the absence of corporate addition in 3 series, and discontinuation of entry level petrol X1 has hurt the sales numbers. Also, 3 series wouldn't have come with any discounts, unlike C class and A4.

[agambhandari]

Could this have something to do with supply constraints?

I am saying this because even though Audi has high volume drivers like the Q3, Merc doesn't have such a popular car for the segment.(B class? I don't think so).

So BMW being left behind by nearly 1000 units really makes you think!!

[drmohitg]

Really surprising news. I too am not surprised at Audi's numbers but mercedes managing to leave behind BMW by that much margin is not possible. I am sure there is a catch there. Either BMW was facing some production difficulties or as someone mentioned above BMW shared the actual number of sales figures rather dispatches to dealers.

[a4anurag]

Wow!

Audi has overtaken BMW in the sales and moreover Mercedes which was dull since long has got a sudden rise in its sales is surprising.

I am waiting for the 1 series from BMW to see how the sales figures change with the position too. Since prices would be low the sales figures will go up again.

Anurag.

[deetjohn]

That Merc numbers are a surprise. I hardly see many Mercs on road in KL now. I see a lot of new 3ers and A6s. BMW clearly needs the corporate edition F30 soon.

[lancer_rit]

Audi was anyways snapping at BMW's wheels for a while so taking pole position is not surprising. However, BMW numbers seem rather low. Thats helped Merchant move upto 2nd place.