It’s no secret that 2022 has been a particularly difficult year for the auto industry due to ongoing parts supply issues, but also rising interest rates and the cost of life, in particular. Even well-known luxury builders like BMW and Mercedes Benz have been affected. Although they remain the best-selling luxury brands in the world, it was BMW that took the lead in sales last year.
These are the most recent global sales figures for the year 2022 which confirm that BMW has sold 56,000 more vehicles than its main competitor from Stuttgart.
In total, 2,100,692 BMW models have found buyers worldwide, against 2,043,900 copies for Mercedes-Benz. This is, however, a considerable drop for the Bavarian manufacturer, which was in a much better position in 2021. Indeed, while Mercedes-Benz was only down 1% from the previous year, BMW suffered a decline of 5.1%. Audi has yet to release its global sales figures, but if we’re going by the trend, the automaker is said to be third in the race for best-selling luxury brands.
The popular Munich automaker is however proud to announce that despite the decline, sales of its hybrid and plug-in hybrid models posted a 35.6% increase in 2022, totaling 372,956 units. In contrast, Mercedes-Benz stands at 319,200 plug-in hybrid vehicles sold, including a 19% increase for the sale of its electric models.
MINI down, Rolls-Royce up
When talking about BMW’s sales, we should also mention its other brands, such as MINI and Rolls-Royce. Rather interestingly, the famous prestige brand recorded record sales in 2022 with 6,021 vehicles sold worldwide.
MINI, however, fell a little, but remains surprisingly stable. If it records a 3% decline in sales in 2022, it says that it is the electric Cooper SE which has been its biggest seller with more than 43,000 copies sold worldwide. Moreover, by combining the sales of electric vehicles from BMW and MINI, we note an increase in sales of 107.7%.
To conclude, although the year was particularly difficult for BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the two manufacturers benefited from a good end to the year. BMW posted a 10.6% increase in sales in the 4th quarter, while Mercedes-Benz was at 17%. It should also be noted that, together, these two manufacturers have sold more than 4 million vehicles worldwide.
