Mercedes-Benz might remain in third place overall in the global luxury market, but the three-pointed star managed to outsell arch rival Audi last month for the first time in 2013.
Buoyed in part by the arrival of its low-cost CLA-Class sedan at one end and a new range-topping S-Class line at the other, Mercedes-Benz found 133,440 buyers for its vehicles last month. That figure represents an 11 percent gain over the year prior and it was also a hair over the 132,050 vehicles Volkswagen’s Audi unit delivered during the same period.
Through the first 11 months of the year, Mercedes-Benz has delivered about 1.32 million vehicles, enough to surpass its overall figure for 2012 with one selling month left in the year.
Still, both Mercedes and Audi trail BMW overall. Last month, BMW’s namesake division sold 149,660 vehicles and the German brand’s year-to-date sales have hit 1.5 million.
However, BMW’s dominance may be short-lived – at least if Audi and Mercedes get their way. Both brands anticipate overtaking BMW by the end of the decade.