First-half import sales fell Mercedes-Benz's throne fell

The growing number of wealthy individuals in China did not allow Daimler to go further than the ambition of the group’s chairman, Zeche Chew, to become the champion of profits and sales in the luxury segment.

Even the title of the imported luxury car sales champion that the group’s core brand—Mercedes-Benz had previously held—has also taken away BMW, just as the Mercedes-Benz S-class limelight was overtaken by the BMW 7 Series in 2010.

According to data recently released by the China Imported Automobile Trade Center, the total number of imported cars in China during the first half of the year reached 467,000, an increase of 24% year-on-year. Due to the impact of the East Japan Earthquake, the Japanese model’s half-year market share dropped sharply from 22% to 15%. BMW’s sales volume to adjust market share to seize market share increased significantly.

In the first six months, BMW brand imported 82,455 luxury cars, ranking first in imports, up 50% year-on-year; Mercedes that did not increase in sales ranked second, imported 61,753 cars, down 1% year-on-year; Audi ranked third, imported 28,166 cars , a year-on-year increase of 53%.

BMW's championship for the best-selling list of imported cars in China was Lexus, but the large-displacement excise duty implemented in September 2008 made it impossible for the 82% models to exceed the displacement of 3.0 liters. Mercedes-Benz is thus led by luxury cars. In 2009, the Chinese imported car market was extremely popular, and the S-class flagship car was particularly sought-after.

That year, the Mercedes-Benz brand sold 47,594 imported cars, more than 6,000 BMW. By 2010, Mercedes-Benz's thunder was still no more than one, with as many as 97,455 imported license data, but BMW’s leading edge has been reduced to 2,000. Until the first half of this year, BMW took the lead and they delivered as many as 62,848 imported luxury cars, nearly 3,000 more than the Mercedes-Benz. The authoritative department showed the data provided by Times Weekly.

Imported cars have always been the pillar of Mercedes-Benz's performance in China. Due to the conservative strategy pursued by Germany, the company's capacity building has lagged far behind two German counterparts, blindly indulging in the huge profits of imported Mercedes-Benz, and the sales of domestic models are only overall. Of the 35%, BMW and Audi exceeded 50% and 85% respectively.

Complicated corporate structure and power struggle also restrain Mercedes-Benz's channel expansion. Compared with the BMW brand with more than 20% share in the third-tier cities, this proportion of Mercedes-Benz is less than 5%. More than 40% of their sales stores are concentrated in First-tier cities, and BMW put 70% of its energy in the second-and-third-tier market with amazing potential, a Beijing-Benz management said.

In July of this year, Mercedes-Benz sold 14,470 vehicles in China, although it was only one less than the 14,500 vehicles sold in the same period of last year, but it dropped significantly from 16,925 vehicles in June. As the world's largest market for S-Class sedans, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sold 2,530 units, a sharp drop from the 3,150 units in June.

BMW's growth rate also began to slow down, but still increased by 36% year-on-year to 18,858 units.

Stuttgart (headquarters of Daimler) and Munich (BMW headquarters) have been tit for tat. Since BMW's global sales exceeded 1995 for the first time in 1995, this leading advantage has continued to this day. This has deepened the confrontation between the two old rivals that are separated by 120 miles. They see China as a key market to consolidate or surpass their opponents.

Reliance on the importance of China's Chinese market for German premium car manufacturers is clear. The forecast report released by the German Automobile Industry Association recently showed that with the boost of the booming automobile market in countries such as China, Russia and India, it is expected that the total car production in Quande in 2011 will reach 5.9 million, which will become the 125-year history of the German automobile manufacturing industry. The best year of sales on. Humer, a Chinese expert at consulting firm Capgemini, believes that China's luxury car market will maintain double-digit growth over the next 10 years.

China's magnets generally attract German investment. Whether Mercedes-Benz, Laiwei or Siemens, almost all major German companies have a soft spot for China. According to a survey conducted by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, China has now become the most preferred investment destination for German industries.

According to the survey report, 43% of German companies planning to invest in foreign countries in 2011 chose to invest in China to establish new sales channels and increase production capacity, which is an increase of 6 percentage points compared with the same period last year. China has already replaced Europe as the most popular ideal investment region.

Compared with the previous conservative route, Beijing’s Mercedes has begun brewing a huge expansion strategy. The production capacity was close to 500,000 units in 2015. Beijing Automotive Group Chairman Xu Heyi said that he spent five years persuading his partners.

"At the end of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, the existing 100,000 production capacity will be boosted up and down by 100,000 vehicles each year, with an investment of 3 billion Euros." Xu is challenging the auto industry's imagination for Beijing's aggressive targets, "always By 2015, it will be close to 500,000 vehicles.” Another engine production line set to be put into production in 2013 will have a production capacity of only 250,000 units in the first phase. Except for the entire Beijing-Benz model, they are even exploring overseas. Possible market exits. The above figures are far beyond the plan announced by Daimler investors and analysts a year ago that "Mercedes will become the leader of China's luxury cars with 300,000 sales in 2015."

The profit soared but the Mercedes Benz's ambition to “become the champion of profit and sales in the luxury car field” was not further but farther.

Daimler Group recently announced that the company's second-quarter profit hit a new high, full of confidence in the second half of this year. “In the second quarter, operating profit reached a peak of 2.58 billion euros, an increase of 23%. The group’s total revenue reached 1.7 billion euros (1.3 billion euros in the same period of last year), which also hit a new high.” Said Zechu, “We are convinced that the company’s situation is developing. It will be better than expected, and profit growth will exceed the level of previous years."

Among them, Mercedes-Benz has the best performance as the company's core business, with operating profit reaching 1.57 billion euros (previous year: 1.38 billion euros). However, car sales have declined to 14.6 billion euros, and the situation in the quarter is clearly lower than analysts' expectations, both in terms of the group's turnover and its truck business. Demand from China and other emerging countries has also failed to lift overall sales, with an increase of only 5% to 26.3 billion euros.

BMW's second-quarter net profit more than doubled. The strong demand in the Chinese market led BMW's profit margin to 14.4%, which was significantly higher than that of rival Mercedes-Benz 10.7% and Audi's 11.8%. BMW's sales in China reached 122,000 units, a significant increase of 61% year-on-year. Chinese buyers’ demand for BMW branded automobiles grew three times faster than the overall level of the Chinese auto market. In the first half of this year, China’s sales accounted for 14.5% of BMW’s global sales, ranking third, with North America accounting for 20% and Germany accounting for over 17%.

BMW said that the second-quarter profit of the sedan segment rose 83% year-on-year to 2.4 billion euros, which is higher than analysts' consensus forecast of 2.1 billion euros. In the three months to the end of June, the group's net profit increased from 834 million euros to 1.8 billion euros, and revenue increased 17% to 17.9 billion euros during the same period.