The world’s three biggest luxury car brands – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – had similar results in 2022, recording small drops in deliveries but big growth from electric vehicles.
Additionally all three reported big gains from their most expensive and high-performance offerings – each prioritising limited semiconductors for their most profitable products.
In terms of bragging rights, Munich-based BMW edged out its rivals from Stuttgart and Ingolstadt when it came to overall volumes.
Overall
BMW (not including Rolls-Royce and Mini) claimed worldwide sales of 2.1 million cars, down 5.1 per cent year-on-year.
Mercedes-Benz (excluding commercial vans) managed 2.04 million deliveries, down 1.0 per cent. Audi claimed worldwide deliveries of 1.6 million units, down 3.9 per cent.
- BMW: 2,100,692 units
- Mercedes-Benz: 2,043,900 units
- Audi: 1,614,23 units
Electric
BMW doesn’t outright state its brand EV sales, rather it includes Mini and cites Group BEV sales of 215,755 units, up 107.7 per cent. But removing sales of the Mini Cooper SE (43,744) leaves you with 172,011 BMW EV sales.
This figure still trumped Audi in second, which delivered 118,196 electric models to customers last year to post 42.8 per cent growth. Mercedes-Benz EV sales (Vans and Smart excluded) totalled 117,800 units, up 124 per cent.
- BMW: 172,011 units (est)
- Audi: 118,196 units
- Mercedes-Benz 117,800 units
It’s important to contextualise this by noting that none of the big Germans got anywhere near Tesla which sold a record 1.31 million EVs last year.
High-end models
BMW M GmbH recorded 177,527 sales last year to be up 8.4 per cent, while Rolls-Royce eclipsed its all-time record with 6021 sales.
Mercedes-Maybach achieved its best sales year with 21,600 units (up 37 per cent) delivered, and S-Class deliveries increased to 90,000 units (up 5 per cent) versus the prior year period.
While it withheld full-year data, the brand did say that Mercedes-AMG sales grew 28 per cent in Q4, and that G-Class sales grew 15 per cent over the same period.
Audi Sport (parent of the RS vehicles) also had a big year in 2022: deliveries of 45,515 high performance cars meant a new record and an increase of 15.6 per cent year-over-year.
Regions
BMW annoyingly combines Mini sales with its regional breakdowns. But here’s a look at the performance of each across the three major regions.
USA
- BMW (inc. Mini): 361,892
- Mercedes-Benz: 286,800
- Audi: 186,875
Europe
- BMW (inc. Mini): 877,369
- Mercedes-Benz: 635,100
- Audi: 624,498
China
- BMW (inc. Mini): 791,985
- Mercedes-Benz: 751,700
- Audi: 642,548
