Comments on: BMW AG 16.6% sales growth in January

By: Babken

Babken — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:05:07 +0000

Well, I think that Audi sells more of the cheapest cars than BMW and Mercedes-Benz and that’s why they took the market leadership. But that’s for a while.

By: Brookside

Brookside — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:14:06 +0000

Read all of my post…OK?
Look, I like Audi, and always have. But it’s not on the level of BMW or Merc. It’s a step down and on a level with Acura and Volvo.
For every iconic R8 they sell they still churn out thousands of absolute doggie cars- how ’bout the base model front wheel drive, cvt, Audi A3?

Audi makes great interiors, gets you thru the snow and maybe has gained some sales on BMW, but no way does their recent success change the game.
If their increased sales can be attributed to anything it’s a re-hauled consumer friendly buying and leasing plans and an increased media advertising blitz.

And by the way- their warranty policy absolutely sucks. Audi customers will be finding out (and schilling out) when they reach Audi’s legendary reliability after 50k.

By: james may

james may — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:14:39 +0000

babken all cars have an life cycle off about 7 years the 5 has 2 months left they have released the 5 gt to take up some slack half a year b4 the new 5. BMW are aware of the growing threat from audi in China, hence the big 5 gt.
the 3 will begin to loss sales and the new 5 will make up for it. thats the way it goes.
The thing with audi is they are based on vw platforms which are used by seat and skoda. they are mostly fwd which i dont consider premium.
the x1 will help sales

By: Babken

Babken — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:51:11 +0000

Compare the sales numbers with those of January 2009 and you’ll see.

By: Brookside

Brookside — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:16:02 +0000

These latest numbers seem to reflect an evening out between the German Big 3. The Audi gains aren’t really surprising and if I remember correctly, their sales spike in the wintertime when the weather reminds customers who live in the snow-belt that Quattro is a good thing. Audi seems to have a psychological lock on AWD for consumers….even when BMW and Merc offer it on many of their models.

What is going to slow Audi down is their 2nd rate dealer network in the U.S. where you can find an Audi dealer in one locale that is state of the art facility and another Audi dealership across town or nearby that feels and looks like a used car lot. They need to invest in bringing a uniformity of quality to their dealerships – plunking down big $ on a car that’s sitting outside of a double-wide masquerading as a showroom shouldn’t exist anymore, and yet it does. And even if in your locale
that example doesn’t exist- as it does in mine- what does it say about Audi’s standards to its customers?

What’s happened with Toyota’s massive recalls is a cautionary tale for the Germans. Frankly I wouldn’t mind seeing sales numbers level for BMW and a complete review of quality standards, including suppliers, be initiated across the board. BMW has worked incredibly hard on engineering reliability into their products. Keep it that way.

Sorry to to go on so much- but this idea of the importance of who is number one in sales is a slippery slope that empties out into mediocrity.

By: 2011bmw

2011bmw — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:15:18 +0000

One of the 87 rolls….for me!
Wouldn´t that be something! LOL

By: Giom

Giom — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:37:36 +0000

Finally, on the up! But check out Rolls Royce! Is the new Ghost selling like hot cakes? Wouldn’t that be something!

By: Babken

Babken — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:35:59 +0000

However, it’s bad that BMW lags behind Mercedes-Benz and Audi in terms of growth. Audi itself performs miracles. They took over the premium market from BMW by selling 77,800 units, BMW sold 69,852 units, and Mercedes-Benz sold 67,000 units, i.e nearly as much as BMW. As I’ve already said it’s the result of BMW’s poor marketing and product life cycle policy, particularly regarding the 5 Series launch. Let’s just hope BMW will retain its crown as the best selling luxury brand in the world in 2010. Though I must say that Audi didn’t publish sales by models so I can conclude that the low-end models constitute the vast majority of their sales.