BMW Group combined, BMW cars and MINI, claims top spot over Mercedes-Benz India in Q1 2020 sales

BMW India has released its sales figures for Q1 2020 that states a total sales of 2,482 cars, which is a combined number of BMW (2,365) and Mini (117). In comparison, its staunch rival Mercedes-Benz India sold a total of 2,386 cars in Q1 2020, which makes it more than that of BMW cars. Combining the sales numbers with the MINI brand, BMW has claimed the top spot in luxury car sales over Mercedes-Benz India, which has happened after seven years.

BMW mentions that 50 per cent of sales came from SUVs like the BMW X1, BMW X3, BMW X5 and the BMW X7.

"The Coronavirus pandemic presents a mammoth challenge to public health, industry, economy and our business. The current situation has brought many operational difficulties and eliminated valuable physical interactions with customers at dealerships. BMW Group India has introduced innovative, contactless and safe ways to meet the requirements of existing as well as potential customers together with dedicated dealer partners, expert teams and strong backbone of processes. Until normalcy returns, our focus will be on consistent digital interaction with our customers and maintaining the performance," commented Rudratej Singh, president and chief executive officer, BMW Group India.

Last year, Mercedes-Benz sold a total of 13,768 units which was higher than BMW's sales figure of 9,641 units. The former had also maintained its lead over BMW in Q1 2019 by selling 3,885 cars compared to 2,982 units which was also BMW's highest-ever sales in a quarter. In the luxury segment, Mercedes-Benz was the first car manufacturer to launch a BSVI vehicle that was also made in India, the S-Class 350d in 2018. Further, the company had already made a successful transition to BSVI by December 2019, much ahead of the deadline. Merc dealers had also sold almost all of the BSIV units during that period which meant some of the most popular and volume selling models like the CLA, GLA and GLS were not available for this quarter.

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On the other hand, BMW mentions that 50 per cent of sales came from SUVs like the BMW X1, BMW X3, BMW X5 and the BMW X7. The sedans 3 Series and 5 Series too made a sizeable contribution. However, many BMW dealers did have a large number of BSIV vehicles on which huge discounts were being offered. To the extent that some of the dealers were retailing the 5 Series sedan for the price of 3 Series. And this did play a major role in BMW selling more units and clocking higher numbers.

"We started 2020 on a high note and our existing as well as newly launched products continued to draw customer traction till the time sales came to a complete stop, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic situation. Saying that, these are difficult times for all of us and our main focus is to ensure the health and safety of our employees, customers, dealers, business partners and the community around us. At Mercedes-Benz we are doing our best to support all our stakeholders through varied initiatives and measures, so that all of us can emerge stronger than ever before, especially during this period of crisis," stated Martin Schwenk, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India.