Luxury end of new car market bucks falling sales in Europe

DESPITE DECLINING demand for new cars in Europe, the premium segment of the market is bucking the trend, with BMW and Audi reporting record sales for the first three months of 2012.

BMW remains the best selling global premium brand, with 356,548 sales in the first quarter, up 11 per cent on the same period last year. Rival Audi recorded a 10.8 per cent growth in sales to 346,100, a new record.

Earlier this month Mercedes announced its own first-quarter record, achieving sales of 313,902, up 11.9 per cent.

Audi and Mercedes have both vowed to surpass BMW for the top spot in luxury car sales this decade. This month Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of Daimler, which owns the Mercedes brand, said: “We aim to be the front-runner wherever we compete on a permanent basis. Wherever we are not number one, we will strive to become it.”

Despite this determination the launch of the 3-Series in February should see BMW retain its position as the world’s largest maker of luxury vehicles for the rest of this year.

Audi is due to launch its A3 model this year, while Mercedes is introducing its new A-Class in September. However, these are unlikely to reach dealer forecourts in time to topple BMW from top spot this year.

Much of the rise in fortunes of the luxury brands is being driven by surging demand in Asia. China is now the biggest new car market for both BMW and Audi. BMW’s record first quarter was underpinned by Chinese sales of 80,014, followed by 75,729 in the US and 66,222 in Germany.

Audi recorded Chinese sales of 90,063 in the first quarter, up 40.5 per cent. However a much lower share of the US market than its rivals – with sales of 29,470 – continues to hamper its ambitions.

For Mercedes the US remains the largest market for now, with sales of 61,513, ahead of the 56,552 new cars it sold in China in the first three months. However, Mercedes sales are growing significantly there as well.

In Ireland Audi has overtaken BMW, becoming the best-selling premium brand this year. In the first three months it recorded 1,828 new car registrations, up 14.7 per cent on last year. At the same time BMW’s new car registrations fell to 1,722, down 14.1 per cent compared to last year. Mercedes lies in third place among the premium brands with registrations of 1,040, up 2.5 per cent.