Finally, a day later, the two German primadonnas, Daimler and BMW, handed in their homework, and America can get on with its life, knowing that Americans bought 1,243,784 light vehicles in December. This brought annual sales in the U.S. to the official total of 12,778,885 units, up 10 percent over 2010.
Now for the primadonnas. Executives at both German companies counted cars as if their careers depend on who’s on first. When they finally handed in their paperwork a day late, to everybody’s surprise, BMW squeaked by Mercedes by 2,715 units and a total of 247,907 bimmers for the year. That despite a sudden voracious appetite of American drivers for the Mercedes brand, which rose 28 percent to 25,701 in December, for an annual total of 245,192.
In the luxury races, you must eliminate BMW Minis, and on the Daimler side Smart and Mercedes Sprinter vans.
Two days ago, Edmunds still had different numbers and said that “Mercedes-Benz is expected to pull ahead to finish the year over BMW by about 1,100 vehicles.”
For the first time, BMW can call itself America’s king of luxury. But is that an excuse for letting a whole nation wait a day?
December U.S. Light Vehicle Sales
(Complete table)
| Automaker | Dec. 2011 | Dec. 2010 | Pct. chng. | 12 month 2011 |
12 month 2010 |
Pct. chng. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMW division | 26,834 | 23,280 | 15% | 247,907 | 220,113 | 13% |
| Mini | 5,711 | 4,320 | 32% | 57,511 | 45,644 | 26% |
| Rolls-Royce | 30 | 43 | –30% | 348 | 512 | –32% |
| BMW Group | 32,575 | 27,643 | 18% | 305,766 | 266,269 | 15% |
| Chrysler Division | 23,974 | 13,132 | 83% | 221,346 | 197,446 | 12% |
| Dodge | 41,548 | 32,390 | 28% | 451,040 | 383,675 | 18% |
| Dodge/Ram | 68,143 | 56,660 | 20% | 708,650 | 596,627 | 19% |
| Fiat | 2,325 | – | –% | 19,769 | – | –% |
| Jeep | 43,577 | 30,910 | 41% | 419,349 | 291,138 | 44% |
| Ram | 26,595 | 24,270 | 10% | 257,610 | 212,952 | 21% |
| Chrysler Group | 138,019 | 100,702 | 37% | 1,369,114 | 1,085,211 | 26% |
| Maybach | 3 | 5 | –40% | 39 | 63 | –38% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 27,296 | 21,469 | 27% | 261,769 | 224,944 | 16% |
| Smart USA | 710 | 570 | 25% | 5,208 | 5,927 | –12% |
| Daimler AG | 28,009 | 22,044 | 27% | 267,016 | 230,934 | 16% |
| Ford division | 201,044 | 173,738 | 16% | 2,057,210 | 1,752,511 | 17% |
| Ford/Lincoln/Mercury | 209,447 | 190,191 | 10% | 2,143,101 | 1,931,534 | 11% |
| Lincoln | 8,403 | 8,060 | 4% | 85,643 | 85,828 | 0% |
| Mercury | – | 8,393 | –100% | 248 | 93,195 | 100% |
| Volvo | – | – | –% | – | 32,525 | –100% |
| Ford Motor Co. | 209,447 | 190,191 | 10% | 2,143,101 | 1,964,059 | 9% |
| Buick | 14,974 | 17,095 | –12% | 177,633 | 155,389 | 14% |
| Cadillac | 16,259 | 16,718 | –3% | 152,389 | 146,925 | 4% |
| Chevrolet | 161,158 | 147,938 | 9% | 1,775,802 | 1,563,881 | 14% |
| GMC | 41,960 | 42,143 | 0% | 397,973 | 333,204 | 19% |
| Hummer | – | 38 | –100% | – | 3,812 | –100% |
| Pontiac | – | 130 | –100% | – | 1,182 | –100% |
| Saab | – | – | –% | – | 608 | –100% |
| Saturn | – | 85 | –100% | – | 6,698 | –100% |
| General Motors | 234,351 | 224,147 | 5% | 2,503,797 | 2,211,699 | 13% |
| Acura | 13,129 | 15,489 | –15% | 123,299 | 133,606 | –8% |
| Honda Division | 92,101 | 114,127 | –19% | 1,023,986 | 1,096,874 | –7% |
| Honda (American) | 105,230 | 129,616 | –19% | 1,147,285 | 1,230,480 | –7% |
| Hyundai division | 50,765 | 44,802 | 13% | 645,691 | 538,228 | 20% |
| Kia | 43,390 | 30,444 | 43% | 485,492 | 356,268 | 36% |
| Hyundai Group | 94,155 | 75,246 | 25% | 1,131,183 | 894,496 | 27% |
| Jaguar | 1,137 | 1,180 | –4% | 12,276 | 13,340 | –8% |
| Land Rover | 4,743 | 3,695 | 28% | 38,099 | 31,864 | 20% |
| Jaguar Land Rover | 5,880 | 4,875 | 21% | 50,375 | 45,204 | 11% |
| Maserati | 238 | 180 | 32% | 2,321 | 1,897 | 22% |
| Mazda | 22,353 | 21,479 | 4% | 250,426 | 229,566 | 9% |
| Mitsubishi | 5,032 | 4,874 | 3% | 79,020 | 55,683 | 42% |
| Infiniti | 10,990 | 12,502 | –12% | 98,461 | 103,411 | –5% |
| Nissan Division | 89,937 | 81,228 | 11% | 944,073 | 805,159 | 17% |
| Nissan | 100,927 | 93,730 | 8% | 1,042,534 | 908,570 | 15% |
| Porsche | 1,834 | 2,567 | –29% | 29,023 | 25,320 | 15% |
| Saab Cars North America | 270 | 1,074 | –75% | 5,610 | 4,838 | 16% |
| Subaru | 33,701 | 26,694 | 26% | 266,989 | 263,820 | 1% |
| Suzuki | 2,565 | 2,647 | –3% | 26,618 | 23,994 | 11% |
| Lexus | 25,355 | 27,560 | –8% | 198,552 | 229,329 | –13% |
| Scion | 4,159 | 3,956 | 5% | 49,271 | 45,678 | 8% |
| Toyota division | 148,617 | 145,972 | 2% | 1,396,837 | 1,488,588 | –6% |
| Toyota/Scion | 152,776 | 149,928 | 2% | 1,446,108 | 1,534,266 | –6% |
| Toyota | 178,131 | 177,488 | 0% | 1,644,660 | 1,763,595 | –7% |
| Audi | 12,655 | 10,546 | 20% | 117,561 | 101,629 | 16% |
| Bentley | 317 | 197 | 61% | 1,877 | 1,430 | 31% |
| VW division | 32,502 | 23,867 | 36% | 324,402 | 256,830 | 26% |
| Volkswagen | 45,474 | 34,610 | 31% | 443,840 | 359,889 | 23% |
| Volvo Cars NA | 5,342 | 4,756 | 12% | 67,240 | 21,423 | 214% |
| Other (estimate) | 251 | 243 | 3% | 2,967 | 2,897 | 2% |
| TOTAL | 1,243,784 | 1,144,806 | 9% | 12,778,885 | 11,589,844 | 10% |
Data courtesy Automotive News [sub].
5,208 Smarts in 2011 — look out, Peugeot!
All things considered at Lexus – stale, old tech LS, GX, LX, mid-cycle RX, EOL IS, GS, ES, miserable HS – third place is really nothing to be ashamed of. I suspect when most of the line is refreshed soon, they’ll probably be back in the lead. It will be interesting to see if this new “performance focused” GS is actually able to take it to the 5 and E in sales, or if there’s a bubble for a year or two which then pops just like every previous GS.
VW seems to be on target for 800000 by 2018 as their target. Well over 400000 with the Passat only just released means they should get well over 500,000 for 2012. Will be interesting to see what new models they have to get the other 300,000 units (better pricing structure for Tiguan would help!)
FTW -A friend working with a BMW dealership told me that BMW wanted the crown and was pushing strong Lease deals to win the Lux crown
Just because it is fun to keep MB when they are down, Do their total numbers include the MB Sprinter?
In the copy you say BMW sold 247,907. And that’s what the chart says, too. Then you said that Daimler sold 245,192 Mercedes (although other auto industry sites say 245,231 for Mercedes and so does Reuters.) But the chart says Daimler sold 261,769 Mercedes. The chart separates Mini and Smart but doesn’t separate out Sprinter. Did Daimler then sell 16,577 Sprinters in the USA in 2011? But the other sites (and Reuters) say that the total for Daimler (Smart and Sprinter included) was 254,460 for all Daimler AG/MBUSA sales. The 254,460 sounds more plausible given the figures for Smart and the normally low sales of Sprinters in the US (mostly ambulances.) You have a figure of 267,016 for all Daimler AG/MBUSA sales. I think your chart and your copy is incorrect for Daimler.
The table is the official table from Automotive News [sub].
The data are excerpts from a Bloomberg article, which AN also had used. The article says:
“Mercedes U.S. deliveries, aided by a refreshed C-Class sedan and redesigned M-Class sport-utility vehicle, rose 28 percent to 25,701 vehicles in December, Mercedes said in its statement. Deliveries of Mercedes vehicles for the year rose 13 percent to 245,192 in the U.S.
The results exclude Daimler’s Mercedes Sprinter and Freightliner vans, and Smart cars and BMW’s Mini brand, which aren’t luxury vehicles. The 2011 full-year figures also exclude sales of the Maybach brand.”
Daimler says in its statement regarding Sprinters:
“Separately, sales of Sprinter Vans also increased by 15.7% in December with sales of 1,595 – bringing a year-to-date total of 16,577 (up 93.7 % for the year).”
261,769 – 16,577 = 245,192
That’s a lot of Sprinters. I wonder what pumped it up to 93.7%? Some big fleet contract(?) Reuters has reported a different number than Bloomberg for Mercedes (245,231) which of course isn’t much to make any difference but that number is now being utilized by news media who use Reuters’ services.
yeah, what’s up with Sprinter? I personally think they are cool but the price is soo high and read a lot of negative stuff on your site.
The drifting video is hilarious!