January 2015 Worldwide Auto Sales: Audi, Mercedes Beat BMW for Luxury Sales Lead

Washington DC February 10, 2015; The AIADA newsletter quoting Automotive News reported that Audi and Mercedes-Benz both outsold BMW in January, bumping the world's best-selling luxury car brand from its No. 1 position for the month.

Audi took the top spot in January with global vehicle sales rising 10 percent to 137,700. Mercedes brand was No. 2 with a 14 percent gain to 125,865. BMW brand failed to keep pace with sales increasing 6.3 percent to 124,561. "This looks like a pretty significant decline in growth compared to Mercedes and Audi," said Juergen Pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Bankhaus Metzler.

Both Mercedes and Audi have vowed to take the luxury sales crown by 2020.

Last year Audi was No. 2 and Mercedes No. 3. To underpin its effort, Audi plans to spend 24 billion euros ($27 billion) on new models and expanding production in the next five years.

Mercedes this year is rolling out the new GLE coupe crossover to challenge the BMW X6 as the Daimler unit refreshes most of its SUV lineup.

BMW is targeting a fifth consecutive record in annual deliveries backed by new offerings including a convertible version of the 2-series compact and an upgraded X6.