European Brands Posted Mixed March Sales

Anthony Fontanelle
April 12, 2007

The United States is no doubt the biggest auto market in the world and because of that fact, international brands have been trying to increase their shares in the U.S. auto market. Following the end of the month of March, car manufacturers, both domestic and international brands, have posted their sales figure for the month.

In connection with that, the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) reported that international brands have cornered 48.4 percent of the U.S. auto market. It can also be remembered that experts in the auto industry predicted that international brands will corner a major share of the U.S. auto market before the end of the year. Some of the international brands are of European lineage and in general, European car brands have mixed sales figures for March 2007.

Audi is one of the fastest growing European car brands in the United States. Last month the German company sold 8,020 units and that equates to the posting of an increase of 14.7 percent as compared to March 2006 sales. For the first quarter of 2007, Audi already sold 21,028 units which is an increase of 17.6 percent over sales for the first three months of 2006.

The A4/S4 models are the best selling cars for the German outfit. The two combined for sales of 3,783 units. The A4 sedan racked sales of 2,304 units last month. Meanwhile, the popular and award-winning Audi Q7 sport utility vehicle posted strong sales of 2,075 units.

BMW, another German brand, also posted increased sales last month. The company sold 25,325 units in the United States on the way to post a 3.4 percent sales increase compared to March 2006. The company has already sold 67,360 units for the first three months of 2007 which marks a 6.7 percent sales improvement over the 2006 first quarter sales. The BMW 3-Series is still the best selling model from the outfit with 7,195 units sold.

Another notable BMW model which posted strong sales for the month of March is the 5-Series sedan. BMW sold 4,297 units of the said model in the United States. SUVs from BMW also posted increased sales, with 6,579 units sold posting an increase of 18.9 percent compared to March 2006 SUV sales.

While Audi and BMW may be enjoying success in the United States, the same cannot be said of Volkswagen. Another German brand, Volkswagen posted a 16.3 percent sales reduction in the U.S. auto market. The company sold 17,355 units for the month of March. For the first quarter, Volkswagen has already sold 50,332 units and that is a reduction of 5.6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2006.

European brands like Audi and BMW has posted increased sales and Volkswagen posted reduced sales but one European brand remains flat in its sales output. Mercedes-Benz, another German brand, sold 21,627 units for the month of March.

While this may be an improvement over last year’s March, the 0.9 percent increase shows that the brand is almost stuck as if the sales brakes have been applied. In spite of that, Mercedes-Benz managed to increase their year to date sales in the United States by 9.2 percent.

Source:  Amazines.com