BMW overtakes Mercedes-Benz in Australia for first time in more than a decade

After a neck-and-neck battle in the Australian new-car sales race, BMW has overtaken German rival Mercedes-Benz for the first time in 13 years.

BMW has taken the Australian luxury-car sales lead from German rival Mercedes-Benz for the first time since 2011, after outselling it last month and leaping ahead in the year-to-date tally.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz – fierce rivals in Germany and abroad – have quietly been in a neck-and-neck battle in Australia so far this year, separated by a few hundred sales most months, and just 102 sales apart in August.

Official new-car sales figures released this week by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show BMW sales surged by 4.7 per cent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year, while Mercedes-Benz slumped by 14.2 per cent.

This shift was enough for BMW to pull ahead of Mercedes-Benz in the year-to-date tally by a margin of 550 sales (19,040 versus 18,490) to the end of September.

While BMW has been buoyed by the arrival of new models, most of the Mercedes-Benz slowdown can be attributed to the runout of its biggest-selling vehicle, the Mercedes-Benz GLC SUV, ahead of a new model – and a downturn in demand for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class amid a market shift away from sedans.

Figures show Mercedes-Benz GLC sales are down by 27.8 per cent year-to-date while Mercedes-Benz C-Class deliveries are down by 15 per cent, according to the industry scoreboard.

Mercedes-Benz Australia has also been affected by delays with facelifts for the A-Class, GLA, GLB, CLA, GLE and GLS models.

It remains to be seen if BMW can stay ahead in the final three months of this year, with the new-generation Mercedes-Benz GLC (pictured above) rolling into showrooms now.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the luxury-car sector, Toyota’s luxury division Lexus is rapidly closing the gap to Audi – the third German premium marque – after the Japanese brand posted record sales so far this year.

Lexus is approximately 2000 sales behind Audi – the closest it has been to the German brand at this point in the year-to-date tally in Australia.

While the Audi tally (13,613) is up 29.3 per cent in the first nine months of this year versus the same period last year, Lexus sales (11,483) have more than doubled (up 114.3 per cent), according to Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data.

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