Mercedes-Benz is back at the top of the premium echelon. The Germans have delivered 149,753 cars in July, outselling both BMW and Audi rival brands and claiming the No. 1 spot in global premium-car sales for the first time this year.
Key to this success has been the rising demand for Mercedes’ best-seller C-Class and its ever-expanding range of compact models in China, where Daimler’s top-brand deliveries increased by 42% to 29,540 cars. Overall, global sales figures for the brand have risen by 15% last month.
The former leader, BMW, has found 147,513 new customers in July, seeing its deliveries increase by 5.8% compared to the same period last year. Audi, meanwhile, is closer than ever with July sales closing in at 146,100 vehicles, 1,4% more than in 2014.
After seven months, Mercedes has reached the 1,048,178 million cars mark, announcing a 15% increase of its sales. In contrast, BMW’s client base has increased only 5.2% compared to 2014, totaling 1,079,563 vehicles, while Audi’s fortunes were even more dire since the brand is reporting a minuscule 3.5 sales increase, enough to score them a 1,048,450 deliveries total though and surging past Mercedes on the podium in the process.
That means Audi is only 272 units ahead of Mercedes-Benz in 2015, seeing its sales advantage over Daimler’s passenger car division shrink every month. Audi has passed Mercedes and claimed the title of world’s second-largest luxury brand back in 2011. Overall, BMW is still king as it has been for the last decade, ever since it has first outsold Mercedes in 2005.
