Friday, January 07, 2022
The three-way battle of the premium brands
BMW overthrows Mercedes from the throne
For years, Mercedes, Audi and BMW have been vying for the most sales. With the change of boss in Stuttgart, Daimler gives up the race. In addition, they have to acknowledge that the Munich-based company is better able to manage the lack of chips. Nevertheless, Mercedes reports more profit.
The chip crisis in the automotive industry cost Mercedes-Benz the crown of the world’s leading premium brand last year. The automaker Daimler announced that 2.05 million vehicles had been sold worldwide, five percent less than in the previous year, which was weak due to the corona. In the fourth quarter, sales of the brand with the star collapsed by almost a quarter, not quite as strongly as in the previous quarter. The demand is high in all segments and regions. “However, the industry-wide shortage of semiconductors slowed the delivery of new vehicles,” explained Mercedes-Benz. The supply situation remains uncertain and will also affect production and sales in the coming quarters.
From 2016 to 2020, the Swabians were ahead in the premium segment, which is dominated by the three German brands Mercedes, BMW and Audi. However, BMW announced a few days ago that it had conquered first place with record sales of its core brand of more than 2.2 million units. Munich will publish its figures in the coming week.
The auto industry worldwide has been grappling with the scarcity of computer chips for over a year. At Daimler, as at many others, production had to be stopped again and again. BMW had a better grip on the supply of semiconductors.
Mercedes-Benz Vans was also only able to deliver to customers with a delay. The division nevertheless managed an increase of 2.6 percent to 334,210 units for the year. Together, cars and vans, including the small Smart, sold 2.4 million cars, four percent fewer than in 2020.
Tesla is catching up
Daimler boss Ola Källenius has left the competition for the sales crown, which was a central goal of his predecessor Dieter Zetsche. Because the first place could only be achieved thanks to high sales of less profitable compact cars. Källenius has promised the investors returns of over ten percent and wants to focus more on the luxury segment. Particularly profitable models from the Maybach and AMG sub-brands achieved sales records in 2021. The S-Class luxury sedan and the G-Class SUV also sold well, the company said. By concentrating on the more profitable models, the group was able to increase profits despite the decline in sales.
With the Volkswagen subsidiary Audi as number three worldwide, the German manufacturers have so far made the race in the premium segment among themselves. But the US electric car pioneer Tesla is on their heels with strong growth. After an unprecedented 87 percent increase to a good 936,000 vehicles sold last year, growth of 50 percent can be maintained for a while, according to Tesla boss Elon Musk. Analysts are predicting sales of around one and a half million cars this year when the Californians’ first plant in Europe starts up in Grünheide near Berlin.
Meanwhile, Mercedes is making headway in sales of the new electric cars from the EQ brand. The Stuttgart-based company sold just under 49,000 of these, an increase of around 150 percent. Thanks to the battery-powered cars and a record sales of plug-in hybrids of 227,458 units, the car manufacturer claims that it has complied with the CO2 emissions limit in Europe in 2021. In the current year, greenhouse gas emissions from the Mercedes new vehicle fleet are expected to decrease further.