BMW Claims No.1 Luxury Brand Crown…In China

BMW and Mini sales in China have jumped 39% last month to reach 48,869 units, helping the Bavarian automaker outsell Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

In the meantime, Mercedes sales went up 35% year on year to 47,627 vehicles, whereas Audi sales went down by 6.9% to reach 46,166 units, as reported by Autonews.

As China’s longtime luxury sales leader, Audi has yet to conclude a dispute with dealers over its plans to launch a new distribution network. The dealers have thus refused to order new cars and light trucks.

This is of course working in BMW’s favor, whose sales in the first four months of 2017 increased by 18% compared to last year – reaching a total of 191,697 units. In order to stay on top, BMW plans to double production capacity in China to 600,000 light vehicles over the next five years, while also upgrading its assembly plants so that they can make electric vehicles.

In the Chinese market, BMW’s has a 50-50 production joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings.