BMW and Mercedes neck and neck in sales race

It’s the Holden versus Ford battle of the German carmakers. BMW and Mercedes-Benz are in a race to the finish of the year.

Mercedes-Benz overtook BMW last year to become Australia’s top selling luxury car brand – for the first time in seven years. It was Mercedes’ best result in its 52-year history in Australia. But BMW has regained the lead and edged ahead as 2011 draws to a close.

With just three months remaining, BMW has a leading margin of about 300 sales over Mercedes-Benz once commercial vehicles are removed from the tally (BMW 12,809 versus Mercedes-Benz 12,497 according to VFACTS data).

Both brands are down slightly (BMW by 5.5 per cent and Mercedes-Benz by 5.7 per cent) in the first nine months of this year. But BMW is expecting a sales surge in November and December with the arrival of key new models.

The new generation 1 Series hatch arrives in showrooms next month and a new price-leading, sub-$60,000 X3 softroader is due just before Christmas.

“We’re not counting our chickens, but we think we’re looking pretty good [for top honours],” said the head of BMW corporate communications for Australia and New Zealand, Piers Scott.

“We’re reasonably confident of getting over the line as we’re already ahead and we have some new model activity in the final months.”

BMW sales in Australia have been held back by weakening demand for the 1 Series and 3 Series ranges – down by 20 per cent each – as both models have been in runout, due to replaced by new generation cars.

The all-new BMW X3 softroader has held up the fort – sales are up 132 per cent year-to-date – but a new sub-$60,000 model is expected to give the X3 another boost.

The $59,900 X3 will be powered by a new generation, high output 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol engine. It will slot into the range below the 2.0-litre turbodiesel, which at $62,200 is the most popular variant.

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