BMW leads German premium car brands in first-half sales
Updates with Mercedes-Benz, Porsche figures
BERLIN, July 10 (Reuters) -BMW BMWG.DE on Tuesday reported the strongest sales among Germany's top three premium carmakers and was the only brand to significantly boost battery-electric deliveries, as Mercedes-Benz and Porsche struggled with low demand.
BMW saw a 2.3% rise in total sales in the first half of the year to almost 1.1 million vehicles, with battery-electric sales surging 34% to a total ofnearly 180,000 cars.
Mercedes-Benz sold roughly half as many battery-electric cars at 93,400, a 17% drop from a year ago. Total sales by Mercedes-Benz core brand dropped 6% to 960,000.
"The ramp-up of electric vehicles slowed in key markets, while the company focused on healthy growth in a market environment characterised by heavy discounting," Mercedes said in a statement.
Carmakers have been slashing prices of electric vehicles particularly in China in an attempt to boost sales amid dampened demand and rising competition as carmakers broaden their electric lineups.
Both Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, as well as Volkswagen's premium brand Audi, have said upcoming model launches would help make up lost ground and boost sales. Audi sales fell in the first six months of the year by 8% to 833,000 vehicles, with battery-electric sales up by just 1.3%.
Porsche, which sells a lower volume of higher-priced cars, saw sales drop 7% to just 155,900 vehicles with a particularly steep drop of a third in China.
Analysts said after a pre-close call with Porsche AG executives on Tuesday that revenue should improve in the second quarter from higher availability of top-end models, resulting in a margin in line with forecasts of 15% to17%.
"We continue to like the stock," analyst Tim Rokossa of Deutsche Bank said in a note.
Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Ilona Wissenbach, Rachel More; Editing by Miranda Murray and Arun Koyyur
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
