Audi has sold more than the BMW brand in first two months of 2015, although IHS Automotive expects BMW to retain its number one brand position at the year's end.
IHS Automotive perspective | |
Significance | BMW maintained its lead in the global premium passenger market in February with its brand sales rising by 5,2% y/y to 131,416 units, while Group sales rose 7.6% to 151,952 units. Audi maintained second place, up 4.2% y/y to 122,250 units, although Mercedes-Benz was the biggest riser with brand sales up 15% y/y to 120,270 units. However, Audi sold more cars in brand terms in the first two months of the year than BMW. |
Implications | Global premium car sales continue to rise in the early months of 2015 despite already very high base levels. The extremely impressive growth posted by Mercedes-Benz vindicates its recent model launch strategy and the new design direction pioneered by Gorden Wagener. The big three German OEMs BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz continue to dominate the global premium passenger car market. |
Outlook | Despite the efforts being made by Mercedes-Benz and Audi with launches in new segments over the rest of the decade, IHS Automotive forecasts that BMW will maintain its lead in the global premium car market in brand terms by the end of the decade, with sales of 2.08 million units to Audi's 2.00 million units. |
BMW has maintained its leading position in the global premium passenger car sales race, with Group sales rising by 7.6% year on year (y/y) in February to 151,952 units, according to a company statement. Combined sales for the first two months of the year rose by a healthy 7.3% y/y to 294,112 units. The main BMW brand posted an increase of 5.2% y/y to 131,416 units in February, with year to date (YTD) sales up 5.7% to 255,981 units. Commenting on February's positive result, board member for sales and marketing Ian Robertson said, "We've had a good start to the year with February setting another sales record. I am confident that our fresh model line-up, including the brand new BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer and the updated BMW 1 Series we've just premiered at the Geneva Motor Show, will provide the momentum to keep us growing in 2015." The BMW brand enjoyed its strongest ever February with sales with some of the brand's more niche models scoring strong results, with sales of the 4-Series rising to 9,636 units, while the new X4 sold 4,040 units. The X5 continues to sell very strongly, up 46.0% y/y to 12,916 units. Sales of BMW i vehicles totalled 2,165 in February with 1,824 BMW i3s and 341 BMW i8s delivered to customers. Mini brand sales also rose strongly with volumes up 27.1% y/y to 20,303 units thanks to the launch of the new Mini hatchback last year. For the first two months of the year Mini set a new sales record of 37,678 units, an increase of 19.7% y/y. Combined BMW Group sales in Europe rose by 7.0% y/y to 64,685 units, with YTD sales in the region rising 120,365 units. Group sales in the Americas also rose very strongly with an uplift of 13.8% y/y to 34,698 units, with sales in the US continuing to develop very positively with volumes up 18.2% y/y to 28,921 units. However, sales growth in China was less impressive, rising by just 2.7% y/y to 31,089 units.
Audi maintained second position behind BMW in February with sales rising at a slower rate than BMW's, up 4.2% y/y to 122,250 units. This growth figure was down on January's rise, with YTD sales rising by 7.4% y/y in the first two months of the year to 260,250 units. Commenting on Audi's early year performance sales chief Luca di Meo said, "We are continuing our global growth and have again increased sales in all regions of the world in February. The updated A6, which is also due to be launched in the United States over the next few weeks, performs very well and will provide us with added momentum." In global terms the revised A6 rose 10.8% y/y during the month to 20,650 units, although the really big mover was the new Audi A3 family, sales of which were up by 47.4% y/y during February to 28,850 units. The A3 and Q3 helped Audi's sales in the US rise by 5.3% y/y to 11,455 units in February which was the 50th consecutive monthly sales volume increase for the brand in the US. In Europe, Audi was boosted by revisions to the A1 and Q3 ranges in February, with sales up 4.2% y/y to 60,250 units. in the combined region. Germany once again achieved a high double-digit increase of 16,7% y/y to 25,502 customers in February, fuelled by the brand's full-size models (A6, A7, Q7 and A8) increasing by 23.2%. Audi claimed that sales growth in China was dampened by the Chinese New Year holidays, with sales rising by 4.2% y/y during the month to 33,712 units. In the first two months of the year sales in the world's biggest market rose by 10.5% y/y to 84,960 units.
Mercedes-Benz was the real growth story of the big three German premiums in February, with sales of the main brand rising by 14.6% y/y during the month to 120,573 units. The YTD sales rise for the brand stood at 14.1% y/y to 246,135 units. Smart sales also developed positively thanks to the launch of the new ForTwo and For Four last year, with volumes up 12.7% y/y in February and up 20.8% y/y in the first two months, while combined Mercedes-Benz car sales rose 14.5% y/y in February to 128,573 units and 14.5% y/y in the first two months to 262,895 units. Mercedes-Benz brand sales in Europe rose by 17.1% y/y to 50,550 units (15.8% in the YTD to 98,243 units) while in the US they rose by 4.5% y/y to 23,616 units. February sales in Asia-Pacific rose by 15.5% y/y to 37,992 units while sales in China were up by 13.6% y/y to during the month to 19,979 units.
Outlook and implications
The German big three premium carmakers continue to dominate the global premium market and generate healthy growth levels despite the very high sales base levels. There are three main pillars to the continuing growth of all three companies: an ongoing increase in demand in China for premium cars, the continuing robust recovery in the US economy, and the rapid increase in new models and variants all three manufacturers have engaged with in recent years. Daimler has expanded its compact car range to the extent that it now numbers five separate model lines based on the MFA architecture while BMW is continuing to move into new niches and segments with the 2-Series Active Tourer and the 2-Series Gran Tourer, which was launched last week at the Geneva Motor Show exemplifying this strategy (see Switzerland: 5 March 2015: Geneva Motor Show 2015: BMW shows mould-breaking 2-Series Gran Tourer). Audi has been less active in terms of moving into new segments in recent months, but this will change next year when it launches the new SUV-B-segment Q1. All three companies will increase their SUV and crossover offerings between now and the end of the decade in order to exploit the growth potential of these vehicle types, with Audi and BMW being particularly active in this area. In terms of brand sales Audi actually crept ahead of BMW in the first two months of the year with sales of 260,250 units in comparison to BMW's 255,981 units. However, IHS Automotive expects the status quo to return for the full year with BMW posting full-year brand sales of 1.82 million units to Audi's 1.70 million units and Mercedes-Benz's score of 1,61 million units. We also believe that in brand terms BMW will maintain its lead until the end of the decade, posting sales of 2.08 million units in 2020, with Audi second on 2.00 million and Mercedes-Benz third with 1.82 million units.