BMW and Mercedes fell in China: the worrying decrease in sales of the two car giants

BMW and Mercedes sales fell in China. A sign that European manufacturers are now having a hard time making progress with Chinese customers due to strong competition from local producers. Problems that could worsen an already difficult situation for the European car industry as shown by the Volkswagen crisis and the a difficult time of Stellantis.

BMW numbers in China

In the July-September quarter the company sold only 148,000 cars, a drop of 30%. The country now accounts for just a quarter of BMW sales, where it recently accounted for a third of deliveries. For the Munich company it was also a negative quarter in the United States where 83,000 cars were sold, a decrease of 9%. The decline is also likely due to problems with a brake supplier that led to the suspension of deliveries of around 320,000 vehicles. In contrast, European sales fell just 1 percent to 219,000 vehicles. BMW cut its annual forecast in September and is expecting a slight drop in sales and a big drop in profits for this year.

For Mercedes -13% sales in the Chinese market

China is also becoming a difficult market for Mercedes which recorded a -13% decline in the same quarter. A big problem because about a third of the Stuttgart company’s sales take place in China. The global data, ie referring to all markets, instead sees a rather limited decline, just 1% less than a year ago. However, it should be noted that sales of highly profitable luxury models, including the S-Class, fell by 12%. Electric car sales were also down for Mercedes, falling 31% to 42,500 units due to “weak demand” in key markets. In terms of electrics, BMW is doing better with a 10% increase and 103,000 cars delivered.