AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)01/12 Report--

On January 10, first-tier luxury brands Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW all announced new car sales in China in 2022. According to the list of "Automotive Industry concern" statistics, BMW led Mercedes-Benz and Audi in sales of 792000 vehicles in 2022, making it the leader in the domestic luxury car market, followed by Mercedes-Benz and Audi. It should be noted that BBA sales declined by varying degrees in 2022 compared with the same period last year, with Audi having the highest decline.

In terms of breakdown, BMW Group delivered a total of 791985 new cars in the Chinese market in 2022, down 6.4% from the same period last year, but still ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Audi, winning the first half of China's luxury brand sales. According to the retail data of BMW Federation, BMW 5 Series and BMW 3 Series are the main products of BMW, and their annual performance is better than that of the same class, ranking first and second in annual high-end car sales, respectively. This is also the main reason why BMW is ahead of Mercedes-Benz Audi in sales in China. BMW 5-Series has accumulated sales of 171100 vehicles from January to December in 2022, which is the best performance model among BBA products, followed by BMW 3-Series. Cumulative sales of 163700 vehicles.

In previous years, Audi's sales have been lagging behind BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and 2022 is no exception, and it is also under a lot of pressure. Audi's sales fell 9.2 per cent year-on-year to 635588 vehicles in 2022, the biggest decline among BBA brands. On the face of it, Audi is still in the first camp of luxury brands with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but the sales gap between Audi and the two is widening compared with 2021. However, according to the list of "Automotive Industry concerns" statistics, many Audi models have achieved year-on-year growth in 2022. Data show that Audi Q5 sales in 2022 were 145800, up 4.2% from the same period last year; Audi A4 was 14.34%, up 17.8% from the same period last year; and Audi A6 was 120400, up 23%.

Mercedes-Benz continues to rank between BMW and Audi, but also continues the decline in sales in 2021, but Mercedes-Benz sales in 2022 were 751714, down 0.9% from a year earlier, tightening the decline and being the smallest of the three BBA brands. In the list of high-end cars and high-end SUV retail TOP sales, a total of four Mercedes-Benz models entered the list and all achieved year-on-year growth, including 148800 Mercedes-Benz GLC, 145800 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, 144400 Mercedes-Benz C-Class and 59000 Mercedes-Benz GLB.

Data show that retail sales in the overall luxury car market in 2022 was 3.09 million vehicles, an increase of 6% over the same period last year, but the traditional luxury car market fell 4% year on year, subdivided into the BBA brand. Generally speaking, BBA performed poorly in the domestic market in 2022. "Automotive Industry concern" believes that it is expected that domestic sales of BBA declined in 2022. The reason for the decline in sales may be affected by the sudden sporadic epidemic in the first half of 2022, semiconductor supply shortages and poor logistics, many car companies have been forced to stop production or cut production, and the luxury car market is also one of the hardest-hit market segments. Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW sales fell 31.9%, 24.1% and 23.3% respectively in the first half of the year, but BMW and Mercedes-Benz sales picked up in the second half of the year.

At the same time, the more far-reaching reason for the decline in BBA sales is related to the fierce competition in the new energy vehicle market. With the high-end development of independent brands, especially the rapid development of high-end electric vehicles, the layout of the luxury car market is changing, while the traditional luxury car market where BBA is located is becoming more and more competitive. In the short term, BBA tripartite situation is difficult to shake in a short time, after all, BBA still occupies a large number of market share, but the current BBA brand in the new energy layout has not yet had a good-looking data performance, in China's new energy vehicle penetration and independent high-end promotion, the growth of the traditional luxury car market is weak. Take Mercedes-Benz as an example, the official website shows that the current Mercedes-Benz EQ series models include EQC, EQB, EQA, EQE and EQS, of which EQC, EQB and EQA are all oil-to-electric models. Mercedes-Benz EQE sales in December 2022 are only 347, while EQA, EQB and EQC sales add up to only more than 100, including 78 EQB, 30 EQA and 5 EQC. In short, Mercedes-Benz is struggling in electric cars, but the good news is that the lacklustre market performance has not repelled confidence in Mercedes-Benz's layout of pure electric models.

At present, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are accelerating the transition to a new energy track, and all three car companies have announced that they will start production or land in the Huachun electric plant. In June 2022, Mercedes-Benz brand new electric car EQE was unveiled and announced that the new car will be put into production at Beijing Mercedes-Benz Shunyi factory. Mercedes-Benz said that by 2025, Mercedes-Benz pure electric and plug-in hybrid models will account for 50% of total sales, and Mercedes-Benz will basically transform into pure electric models in 2030. In the same month, BMW also announced the completion of its Lida plant, the largest single investment project in China, where BMW's first pure electric medium-sized sports car, BMW i3, was put into production. Audi is a little slower than Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Audi FAW's new PPE plant, Audi's first production base for pure electric cars in China, will also open in Changchun in June 2022, but its first model, the Audi A6 e-tron, will not be produced until 2024. In terms of the layout of the electrified transformation, perhaps BBA needs to spend more energy on building electric cars.

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