BMW overtakes Mercedes to lead the premium cohort

BMW regained the premium-brand crown for the first time since 2015, selling 109,000 more cars than Mercedes-benz.

Bucking the general trend, BMW actually raised sales last year, while Mercedes, Audi, Lexus and Cadillac all fell back.

Mercedes was especially affected by the semiconductor shortage and overall lost 210,000 sales compared with 2020.

Hyundai’s Genesis marque arrived with a bang, selling 195,000 cars in its first year of going global, closing the gap on Porsche.

Worryingly, sales of premium cars in the world’s biggest market for such things, China, fell back 10%. At least this was partly compensated by a 7% increase in the US.

JATO ANALYSIS

“Our figures show that premium car demand fell by 3%, while mainstream brands grew by 3%. The chip shortage could have been more visible in top-end cars.”