BMW retained its position as the top luxury vehicle worldwide in terms of sales in 2013. This is the ninth consecutive year for Bayerische Motoren Werke to overtake the sales performance of other luxury vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz of Daimler AG (ETR:DAI) and Audi AG (ETR:NSU).
BMW sales details
Bayerische Motoren Werke sold 1,655,138 units of BMW brand vehicles, an increase of 7.5% from 1,540,085 BMW units sold in the previous year. According to the company, the sales increase was propelled by strong demand for the BMW 3 Series, BMW 3 Series Sedan, and BMW X3.
The automaker sold 500,314 units of BMW 3 Series, an increase of 23% from 406,752 units sold a year earlier. The BMW 3 Series Sedan retained its position as the segment leader with 348,540 units sold and the BMW X3’s sales climbed by 5% to 157,298 vehicles sold. In addition, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (ETR:BMW) sold 366,993 units of BMW 5 Series and 27,687 units of BMW 6 Series last year.
In a statement, Ian Robertson, member of the board of management of Bayerische Motoren Werke said, “The BMW Group posted record sales once again in 2013 and is clearly the number one in the premium segment. Our success can be attributed to our attractive and innovative models, the strength of our premium brands and our strategy of balanced sales across all continents. Despite the prevailing headwinds in many markets, we aim to increase sales and make 2014 another record year.”
In addition to the BMW brand, Bayerische Motoren Werke also recorded strong sales for its MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles. The automaker sold 305,030 MINI and 3,630 RollsRoyce vehicles, up by 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively. Overall Bayerische Motoren Werke sold 1,963,798 vehicles in 2013.
Competitors’ sales performance
The sales results of the BMW brand is higher than the 1.58 million units sold by Audi AG (ETR:NSU) and 1.46 million units sold by Daimler AG (ETR:DAI) for its Mercedez-Benz brand.
Frank Schwope, analyst at Nod LB in Hanover Germany commented, “BMW still has quite a large edge over the competition. Mercedes and Audi won’t able to catch up so quickly, as BMW can keep pace with new models.”
Audi AG (ETR:NSU) said its sales grew by 8% in 2013 driven by its improved A3 model. The company plans to invest 22 billion euros to strengthen its competition by increasing its offerings to 60 models and expanding its production in Brazil, China, and Mexico.
