BMW sets sales record, overtakes German luxury car rivals

Luxury carmaker BMW AG posted record sales for 2013, keeping its No. 1 spot in the market for high-priced cars against its German competitors Audi and Mercedes.

The Munich-based company said today it sold 1.66 million vehicles under the BMW brand, 7.5 per cent more than last year.

The figure was boosted by strong sales of the brand’s mainstay 3-series sedan and X1 small SUV as well as by rising demand in China and the United States. Sales of the 3-series rose 23 per cent.

Volkswagen AG’s Audi division last week reported sales of 1.57 million units last year and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz brand came in at 1.46 million units. The three carmakers are pillars of Germany’s export-focused economy and have reaped fat earnings selling luxury cars and SUVs - which earn higher profits per vehicle than mass-market vehicles - in the United States and in emerging markets, led by China.