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Competition for leadership of the global prestige car market is intensifying as hard-battling Mercedes narrows the gap between itself and Audi, the runner-up in this highly profitable segment
For the world’s leading manufacturers of desirable high-status cars, a profit-rich segment that German premium car makers BMW, Audi and Mercedes have almost made their own, there is no end in sight to the long-enjoyed halcyon days of milk and honey.
Last year ended in the manner of recent years, with no detectable signs that the spending boom that has seen a rapid expansion of the global luxury car market during recent years is about to run out of oxygen.
90,000
Last year, the gap between Mercedes
and Audi
Mercedes, while still outsold by compatriots BMW and Audi in the still sizzling global prestige car sales arena, has pulled out all stops to put the shine back on its luxury cars.
And it shows.
The auto-industry’s tradition-laden brand with the famous star emblem not only posted a segment-leading 12.9 per cent full year sales increase to a highest-ever 1,650,010 cars, but in so doing also recorded its fourth record year in a row.
Last year, the gap between the Mercedes prestige car brand and Audi in the runner-up slot narrowed marginally to just over 90,000 units from almost 114,000 by close of 2014.
Interpretations of last year’s three-way fight for global premium car sector supremacy have varied, but some take the view that Audi, all too wary of Mercedes’ whole hearted attempts to capture the runner-up slot, was forced to dig a great deal deeper in order to keep hard-chasing Mercedes at arm’s
length...more
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DATA
AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS WITH THIS ARTICLE:
SELECTED
WORLD PRESTIGE new CAR sales:
by
manufacturer and marque
DECEMBER 2014 v DECEMBER 2013
FULL
YEAR
2014 V
FULL YEAR 2013
CHINA
SELECTED PRESTIGE new CAR sales:
by manufacturer and marque
DECEMBER 2014 v
DECEMBER 2013
FULL
YEAR
2014 V
FULL YEAR 2013
US
SELECTED PRESTIGE new CAR sales:
by manufacturer and marque
DECEMBER 2014 v
DECEMBER 2013
FULL
YEAR
2014 V
FULL YEAR 2013
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