The three biggest luxury car brands in the world – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and audio – had similar results in 2022, seeing a slight drop in deliveries but strong growth in electric vehicles.
Additionally, all three report large profits from their most expensive and high-performance offerings – each prioritizing limited semiconductors for their most profitable offerings.
In terms of bragging rights, the Munich-based BMW has edged out its rivals from Stuttgart and Ingolstadt when it comes to overall volume.
overall
BMW (excluding Rolls-Royce and Mini) sold 2.1 million vehicles worldwide, down 5.1% year-on-year.
Mercedes-Benz (excluding commercial trucks) managed 2.04 million deliveries, down 1.0%. Audi claims to have delivered 1.6 million units worldwide, down 3.9%.
- BMW: 2,100,692 units
- Mercedes-Benz: 2,043,900 units
- Audi: 1,614.23 units
Electricity
BMW doesn’t publicize sales of its brand electric vehicles, instead it includes Mini and cites Group BEV sales of 215,755 units, up 107.7%. But if we exclude Mini Cooper SE sales (43,744), BMW EV sales are 172,011.
That still beats Audi in second place, which delivered 118,196 electric models to customers last year, posting a growth of 42.8%. Sales of Mercedes-Benz EVs (excluding Vans and Smart) totaled 117,800 units, up 124%.
- BMW: 172,011 units (estimated)
- Audi: 118,196 units
- Mercedes-Benz 117,800 units
It’s important to contextualize this by noting that no German giant has come close to Tesla sold a record 1.31 million electric vehicles last year.
high end models
BMW M GmbH recorded sales of 177,527 units last year, up 8.4%, while Rolls-Royce eclipsed its all-time record with sales of 6021 units.
Mercedes-Maybach achieved its best sales of the year with 21,600 units (up 37%) delivered and S-Class deliveries increasing to 90,000 units (up 5%) year-on-year.
Despite keeping the full-year data private, the brand did say that Mercedes-AMG sales rose 28% in Q4 and G-Class sales rose 15% year-on-year.
Audi Sport (the parent company of RS cars) also had a very successful year in 2022: 45,515 high-performance cars delivered out meant a new record and a 15.6% increase year-on-year. .
Region
BMW mixes Mini sales uncomfortably with regional breakdowns. But here’s a look at each region’s performance across the three main regions.
USA
- BMW (inc. Mini): 361,892
- Mercedes-Benz: 286,800 yen
- 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
