Mercedes-Benz has just reported ahead of the Frankfurt Motor Show next week that it has outsold Audi in the eight months ending in August 2015 to become the world’s second-biggest luxury-car maker. This good news comes as both Audi and BMW struggled to match the Mercedes Benz sales growth in China.
Mercedes brand delivered 1.19 million vehicles in the period, 10,880 cars more than the 1.18 million at Audi. The Daimler unit last outsold Audi on an annual basis in 2010. Mercedes profited from soaring sales of its mid-range C class model and its SUVs and also from China, where it was the only one of the top three luxury-car makers to see sales grow in August. Sales at luxury leader BMW rose 5.5 percent to 1.21 million.
BMW delivered 135,735 cars during August, a rise of 7.6 percent, after selling more of the 1-series compact and the X4 and X6 SUVs.
Audi’s sales climbed 2.7 percent to 128,650 vehicles, compared with an 18 percent leap for Mercedes to 139,802 cars.
Mercedes deliveries in China rose 53 percent to 32,763 cars, compared with a 4.1 percent drop to 45,196 vehicles for Audi. BMW sales in China declined 0.9 percent to 34,168 cars.
Both Audi and Mercedes are seeking to unseat BMW by the end of the decade from the No. 1 global sales position that it has held since 2005.
