BMW/Mercedes Sales Competition Heating Up
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 326
Likes: 0
From: USA
Multiple
BMW/Mercedes Sales Competition Heating Up
This is GOOD news for the consumer................
Report: BMW Inflating Sales Numbers By Giving Dealers Big Discounts
Written by: Donny Nordlicht [G+] on August 15 2012 9:00 AM
BMW is determined to dethrone Mercedes-Benz as the best-selling luxury marque in the U.S. It may be going to extreme lengths to do so, too, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been battling it out this year to claim the title of the top-selling luxury automaker in the U.S. As of the end of last month, BMW had crept ahead of its rivals from Stuttgart but only by a very slim 1985-unit margin. (BMW sold 21,297 cars to Mercedes’ 19,312.)
According to The WSJ, BMW made a one-day offer to its dealers – a $7000 discount on any 2012 model bought on July 31, 2012 as long as it was marked as sold in the company’s records. It’s suspected that many of the not-quite-2000 cars sold to take the sales lead were bought by dealers as demo or loaner cars and have not actually made it into the hands of customers yet.
The increased sales of demo vehicles could account for the large percentage jumps some BMW models made from July to August – The WSJ cites that 7 Series sales tripled from July to August (1696 versus 539) and the 3 Series coupe (a car with a $3200 demo discount) doubled from 1222 to 2555 sold. Deep discounts this time of year aren’t rare in the auto industry either, as dealers begin seeing the next year’s models trickle in and attempt to clear out any inventory from the current year, which could have attested for the 3 and 7′s big gains.
Thus far in 2012, Mercedes-Benz has sold 159,391 vehicles through the first seven months, and BMW has moved 147,801. Last year, Mercedes edged out BMW selling 261,769 vehicles to the Munich-based automaker’s 247,907. With five months still left in the year, it’s anyone’s race to the top spot.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (Subscription required)
Read more: http://rumors.automobilemag.com/repo...#ixzz23iaOJWDH
Report: BMW Inflating Sales Numbers By Giving Dealers Big Discounts
Written by: Donny Nordlicht [G+] on August 15 2012 9:00 AM
BMW is determined to dethrone Mercedes-Benz as the best-selling luxury marque in the U.S. It may be going to extreme lengths to do so, too, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been battling it out this year to claim the title of the top-selling luxury automaker in the U.S. As of the end of last month, BMW had crept ahead of its rivals from Stuttgart but only by a very slim 1985-unit margin. (BMW sold 21,297 cars to Mercedes’ 19,312.)
According to The WSJ, BMW made a one-day offer to its dealers – a $7000 discount on any 2012 model bought on July 31, 2012 as long as it was marked as sold in the company’s records. It’s suspected that many of the not-quite-2000 cars sold to take the sales lead were bought by dealers as demo or loaner cars and have not actually made it into the hands of customers yet.
The increased sales of demo vehicles could account for the large percentage jumps some BMW models made from July to August – The WSJ cites that 7 Series sales tripled from July to August (1696 versus 539) and the 3 Series coupe (a car with a $3200 demo discount) doubled from 1222 to 2555 sold. Deep discounts this time of year aren’t rare in the auto industry either, as dealers begin seeing the next year’s models trickle in and attempt to clear out any inventory from the current year, which could have attested for the 3 and 7′s big gains.
Thus far in 2012, Mercedes-Benz has sold 159,391 vehicles through the first seven months, and BMW has moved 147,801. Last year, Mercedes edged out BMW selling 261,769 vehicles to the Munich-based automaker’s 247,907. With five months still left in the year, it’s anyone’s race to the top spot.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (Subscription required)
Read more: http://rumors.automobilemag.com/repo...#ixzz23iaOJWDH
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 10,557
Likes: 24
From: Earth
Porsche Macan S SportDesign / Ex M-B's: 11 & 10 & 06 E350's, 02 S500
LET BMW HAVE IT!!
Competing for mass sales simply for the sake of winning sales crowns or being ultimately ubiquitous will eventually harm M-B's "brand halo" aspect. It's like Apple competing in low end gadget segments and offering insane discounts just to take as much market share as they can. Bye bye high-end brand reputation.
I still like to live in the ignorant state of mind that M-B is an ultimate Luxury Brand, and IMO BMW have ruined that some time ago by being so ubiquitous with models that look so homogenized with each other (makes it look like you always see the same car, regardless of which one you're seeing). M-B's already expanding its lower-market product portfolio so heavily, which will blast sales up by itself.
The E-Class is common enough, let BMW artificially sell their cars. Have you guys seen the Lease deals on the 5-Series? It's a wonder how it's not shutting the E out completely in sales, they're going for insanely cheap right now. If M-B wants to remain a luxury brand, or at least keep the E as a luxury car, then they need to be careful by how much more they incentivize it, as already they're close to "fleet car volume".
Competing for mass sales simply for the sake of winning sales crowns or being ultimately ubiquitous will eventually harm M-B's "brand halo" aspect. It's like Apple competing in low end gadget segments and offering insane discounts just to take as much market share as they can. Bye bye high-end brand reputation.
I still like to live in the ignorant state of mind that M-B is an ultimate Luxury Brand, and IMO BMW have ruined that some time ago by being so ubiquitous with models that look so homogenized with each other (makes it look like you always see the same car, regardless of which one you're seeing). M-B's already expanding its lower-market product portfolio so heavily, which will blast sales up by itself.
The E-Class is common enough, let BMW artificially sell their cars. Have you guys seen the Lease deals on the 5-Series? It's a wonder how it's not shutting the E out completely in sales, they're going for insanely cheap right now. If M-B wants to remain a luxury brand, or at least keep the E as a luxury car, then they need to be careful by how much more they incentivize it, as already they're close to "fleet car volume".
