Luxury car sales detailed: Mercedes-Benz leads BMW, Tesla

Mercedes-Benz Cars remains Australia’s luxury car leader four months into 2022, despite posting a sharp sales decline of 19.6 per cent relative to the same period in 2021.

The Stuttgart marque’s local division has sold 8265 cars and SUVs this year, placing it ahead of arch nemesis BMW on 7032 sales, down 15.5 per cent.

This suggests that Mercedes’ transition to a new ‘agency’ business model whereby it owns inventory and sets pricing nationally has not necessarily been the existential threat some billed it to be.

Usual third-place premium brand Audi has been usurped by Tesla, which has sold 4469 cars to the end of April – miles and miles ahead of any other electric car player.

Whether Tesla counts as a luxury brand largely depends on perception, but we’ll include it here on account of pricing.

Audi by contrast has sold 3749 cars, down 34 per cent on the back of supply shortfalls – something affecting all brands, but some more so than others.

Nipping at Audi’s heels is Volvo, on 3477 sales, meaning growth of 1.9 per cent. The Swedish-Chinese brand has put Lexus (2640 sales, down 21.7 per cent) in its rear-view mirror.

Jaguar Land Rover has sold 2059 cars, down 23.7 per cent, putting it only two units ahead of Porsche: 2057 sales, up 19.5 per cent and bucking the trend.

Some of the stragglers include Mini (878 sales, down 20.5 per cent), Genesis (258, up 101.6 per cent), Polestar (208 sales, new to market), Alfa Romeo (193 sales, up 4.9 per cent), and Maserati (188, up 6.8 per cent).

Passenger cars

Industry sales database VFACTS classifies passenger cars as hatches, sedans, coupes, convertibles, wagons, and people-movers.

Tesla rules the roost in this space, with the Model 3 (4469) one of the most popular passenger cars overall, putting it ahead of Mercedes-Benz (2958), BMW (2782), and Audi (936).

SUVs

Mercedes-Benz is the SUV leader with 5307 sales YTD, ahead of BMW (4250), Volvo (3304), Audi (2813), and Lexus (2245). SUV specialist Land Rover sold 1788 over the period.

Top selling models

Just two of the top 10 luxury models are sedans, including the top-selling Tesla Model 3 and the ninth-placed BMW 3 Series.

The rest are all small or mid-sized SUVs.

Top model per premium segment

• Light cars: Mini hatch (429)
• Small cars: Mercedes-Benz A-Class (972)
• Medium cars: Tesla Model 3 (4469)
• Large cars: Porsche Taycan (218)
• Upper large cars: Mercedes-Benz S-Class (74)
• People movers: Mercedes-Benz V-Class (161)
• Sports: BMW 4 Series (265)
• Super sports: Porsche 911 (157)

• Small SUV: Volvo XC40 (1656)
• Medium SUV: BMW X3 (1533)
• Large SUV: BMW X5 (913)
• Upper large SUV: Mercedes-Benz GLS (208)