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Strong Mercedes Sales Have Yet to Move it Past Audi

June 9, 2014
1 min to read


Mercedes-Benz keeps delivering double-digit sales growth, but its overhauled line-up of luxury cars has yet to move it past German rival Audi, reported Reuters.


Deliveries of Daimler's flagship passenger-car brand rose 10.4 percent in May to a record 134,031 vehicles, helped by 30 percent growth in China, the company said on Friday.

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That compared with 152,000 deliveries, or 10.8 percent growth, at Volkswagen's Audi which has outsold Mercedes every month this year.


Having eclipsed Mercedes in 2011 as the world's No. 2 luxury carmaker behind BMW, Audi sold 72,516 more cars than its Stuttgart-based rival in the first five months. Last year, the gap was 114,000.


But launches in March of Mercedes's new C-Class saloon and the GLA offroader may pave the way for a second-half turnaround, analysts say. Other recent overhauls include the top-of-the-line S-Class and the E-Class, both launched about a year ago.


"Mercedes will surpass Audi after the summer, that's when their refreshed lineup will take off," said Hanover-based NordLB analyst Frank Schwope.


The world's No. 3 premium automaker has a goal of pushing sales above 1.5 million this year, after 1.46 million in 2013.

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By comparison, Audi is aiming to "clearly" exceed last year's record 1.58 million sales, while BMW is planning for deliveries of 2 million or more, after selling a record 1.96 million in 2013.

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