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One Down, One More to Go for Mercedes-Benz at the End of the First Three Quarters of 2015

The Stuttgart-based company seems set on overtaking Audi for the first time since 2010 in terms of annual sales, finishing a third consecutive month on top in the premium segment.
Mercedes-benz 1 photo
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz has made no secret out of the fact it plans to become the world's best-selling premium brand by 2020, and judging by the latest numbers, it looks on a steady course of reaching that not-at-all unambitious goal.

It seems like the plan is to produce as many SUVs as possible, with the newly released GLE, GLE Coupe, GLC and GLA making up for much of the increase in sales.

It also appears that the so-called Chinese crisis was exaggerated a little, with the Asian market already starting to show steady signs of recovery. This helped all three German premium carmakers end September on a high, with a 12% increase for BMW there, 2.9% for Audi and a whopping 53% rise for Mercedes-Benz.

Globally speaking, Mercedes-Benz ended last month with 188,400 units sold, almost 8,000 over BMW's numbers and close to 18,000 units more than Audi. Those are some really impressive numbers.

But with such a huge growth in China, it's clear that's where Mercedes-Benz made the difference in its quest to becoming the best-sold premium manufacturer.

Since September marks the end of the first three-quarters of 2015, it's time for a quick round-up. Leading the pack are still the Bavarians at BMW with 1.4 million units sold worldwide; in second place comes Mercedes-Benz with 1.38 million units, a mere 20,000 behind the neighbors from the south; further down on third is Audi, with 1.35 million cars sold, and the VW-owned company seems unabated by the whole Dieselgate scandal as, ironically, September turned out to be its strongest month since the start of the year.

However, if Mercedes-Benz manages to maintain (or increase) this 8,000 units monthly gap ahead of BMW, we could be witnessing a major event by the end of this year. And, even if it doesn't happen that soon, the switch will surely take place next year, unless BMW pulls something extremely dramatic out of its hat. And, no, no matter how good it is, the new 7 Series will not be able to do it.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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