[MCS]

WSJ article today:

Mercedes to Lose Crown
In Luxury Cars to BMW

By STEPHEN POWER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 15, 2005; Page B4

STUTTGART, Germany -- After a year of quality trouble, job cuts and management turnover, DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz division is set to suffer another indignity: losing the title of world's best-selling premium brand.

With less than three weeks left in 2005, the auto maker is on track to cede its global premium-brand sales crown to archrival BMW AG's core BMW brand, in what would be the first year BMW has outsold Mercedes on an annual basis since 1993. In the first 11 months of 2005, Mercedes-Benz has sold 961,600 vehicles world-wide, compared with 1,020,156 for BMW, according to the companies.

"Being No. 1 is what they [Mercedes officials] live for," says Christoph Sturmer, an analyst with the Frankfurt office of Global Insight, a sales forecasting firm. "Their message is 'if you want to buy the leading premium brand in the world, buy a Mercedes.' "

The shift in the two auto makers' standings is the latest illustration of broader problems at DaimlerChrysler's luxury division, and of the increasing competitiveness of the premium-car market.

DaimlerChrysler spokesmen play down the significance of losing the global sales crown to BMW, noting that Mercedes-Benz sales globally are again rising after a slow start. With four models launched in 2005 -- a record for the brand -- Mercedes officials hope to continue their momentum next year when the new version of the brand's flagship model, the S-Class sedan, goes on sale in the U.S. following a big rollout at the North American International Auto Show in January.

In the latest sign of BMW's strength, data released yesterday showed new registrations of BMW vehicles in Europe rose 9.5% in November from a year earlier. BMW has been helped by the launch of its redesigned 3 Series sedan, its top-selling model. Mercedes's new registrations -- which closely track sales -- rose a much slower 3.1%, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

While Mercedes's European market share remains unchanged this year -- at 4.6% -- the BMW brand's share has risen to 4.2%, from 3.7% last year, the association said.

The European car makers group said overall new-car registrations fell nearly 3% in November, to 1,111,457 automobiles from 1,142,992 a year earlier, indicating "a stagnation of the market." Through November, overall registrations of new cars in Europe have risen less than 0.1%, to 13,486,560, from 13,479,569 during the year-earlier period. Particularly hard hit in November: Ford Motor Co., whose registrations fell nearly 6%, and Renault SA, whose registrations fell 15.3%.

The tight sales race between Mercedes and BMW is unfolding as Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus division, the leading brand in the U.S. premium market, is increasingly seeking to challenge the German companies on their home turf in Europe. Although Lexus lags far behind Mercedes and BMW globally -- its world-wide sales are expected to total just below 400,000 vehicles by year's end -- Toyota wants Lexus to become a global premium brand, and is expected to let Lexus continue chipping away at the German auto makers.

Reviving Mercedes is key for DaimlerChrysler and incoming Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche, who has been running Mercedes since September, and is set to add the CEO job Jan. 1. Mr. Zetsche, who previously led a turnaround of the Chrysler division, took over Mercedes in September after several changes at the top of the luxury unit. His predecessor, Eckhard Cordes, ran Mercedes before resigning in July after being passed over for the CEO job that went to Mr. Zetsche.

In good times, the Mercedes Car Group -- which includes the superluxury brand Maybach, and Smart, a maker of tiny premium cars -- accounts for more than half of the full company's operating profit. But for the first nine months of this year, the division has run up losses of roughly €500 million, or $596 million, partly because of quality problems at Mercedes-Benz that forced a huge recall last spring, and because of mounting losses at Smart.

Under Mr. Zetsche, the Mercedes division announced plans in September to eliminate 8,500 jobs in Germany to reduce costs. At the same time, Mr. Zetsche is expected to continue to keep an eye on Chrysler, which -- though profitable, and in better shape financially than General Motors Corp. and Ford -- earns far less than Japanese car makers and faces bitter price competition from GM and Ford.

Write to Stephen Power at stephen.power@wsj.com

__________________________
In the first 11 months, MB sold 961,600 vehicles worldwide compared to 1,020,156 for BMW.

Great article - Illustrated how Mercedes lost the way - Management turmoil, quality trouble, and job cuts...

Go BMW - very nice

[MCS]

Also another win - Intel will partner with BMW to supply their new F1 team and will work closely to integrate the Intel electronics into future autos.

Now if they can only fix my (infrequent) iDrive crashes and gremlins. Last night, got home, hit the stop button, removed the key, and the radio was still on!??! on the 4rth try, it finally turned off.

[SteveMD]

Can you cut and paste a bit of it. WSJ is a subscriber site.

Or maybe you read it in the print copy?

[BZTR]

Best-Selling Luxury Cars 2005 by Forbs

[RedStripe]

Damn, I was going to start this thread. I guess someone beat me to it. I'll post the whole thing for those that want to read it:

Mercedes to Lose Crown
In Luxury Cars to BMW

By STEPHEN POWER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 15, 2005; Page B4

STUTTGART, Germany -- After a year of quality trouble, job cuts and management turnover, DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz division is set to suffer another indignity: losing the title of world's best-selling premium brand.

With less than three weeks left in 2005, the auto maker is on track to cede its global premium-brand sales crown to archrival BMW AG's core BMW brand, in what would be the first year BMW has outsold Mercedes on an annual basis since 1993. In the first 11 months of 2005, Mercedes-Benz has sold 961,600 vehicles world-wide, compared with 1,020,156 for BMW, according to the companies.

"Being No. 1 is what they [Mercedes officials] live for," says Christoph Sturmer, an analyst with the Frankfurt office of Global Insight, a sales forecasting firm. "Their message is 'if you want to buy the leading premium brand in the world, buy a Mercedes.' "

The shift in the two auto makers' standings is the latest illustration of broader problems at DaimlerChrysler's luxury division, and of the increasing competitiveness of the premium-car market.

DaimlerChrysler spokesmen play down the significance of losing the global sales crown to BMW, noting that Mercedes-Benz sales globally are again rising after a slow start. With four models launched in 2005 -- a record for the brand -- Mercedes officials hope to continue their momentum next year when the new version of the brand's flagship model, the S-Class sedan, goes on sale in the U.S. following a big rollout at the North American International Auto Show in January.

In the latest sign of BMW's strength, data released yesterday showed new registrations of BMW vehicles in Europe rose 9.5% in November from a year earlier. BMW has been helped by the launch of its redesigned 3 Series sedan, its top-selling model. Mercedes's new registrations -- which closely track sales -- rose a much slower 3.1%, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

While Mercedes's European market share remains unchanged this year -- at 4.6% -- the BMW brand's share has risen to 4.2%, from 3.7% last year, the association said.

The European car makers group said overall new-car registrations fell nearly 3% in November, to 1,111,457 automobiles from 1,142,992 a year earlier, indicating "a stagnation of the market." Through November, overall registrations of new cars in Europe have risen less than 0.1%, to 13,486,560, from 13,479,569 during the year-earlier period. Particularly hard hit in November: Ford Motor Co., whose registrations fell nearly 6%, and Renault SA, whose registrations fell 15.3%.

The tight sales race between Mercedes and BMW is unfolding as Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus division, the leading brand in the U.S. premium market, is increasingly seeking to challenge the German companies on their home turf in Europe. Although Lexus lags far behind Mercedes and BMW globally -- its world-wide sales are expected to total just below 400,000 vehicles by year's end -- Toyota wants Lexus to become a global premium brand, and is expected to let Lexus continue chipping away at the German auto makers.

Reviving Mercedes is key for DaimlerChrysler and incoming Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche, who has been running Mercedes since September, and is set to add the CEO job Jan. 1. Mr. Zetsche, who previously led a turnaround of the Chrysler division, took over Mercedes in September after several changes at the top of the luxury unit. His predecessor, Eckhard Cordes, ran Mercedes before resigning in July after being passed over for the CEO job that went to Mr. Zetsche.

In good times, the Mercedes Car Group -- which includes the superluxury brand Maybach, and Smart, a maker of tiny premium cars -- accounts for more than half of the full company's operating profit. But for the first nine months of this year, the division has run up losses of roughly €500 million, or $596 million, partly because of quality problems at Mercedes-Benz that forced a huge recall last spring, and because of mounting losses at Smart.

Under Mr. Zetsche, the Mercedes division announced plans in September to eliminate 8,500 jobs in Germany to reduce costs. At the same time, Mr. Zetsche is expected to continue to keep an eye on Chrysler, which -- though profitable, and in better shape financially than General Motors Corp. and Ford -- earns far less than Japanese car makers and faces bitter price competition from GM and Ford.

Write to Stephen Power at stephen.power@wsj.com

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113460006342922731.html

[puck724]

the graph seems inaccurate from the information in the article...or am i just reading it wrong..

EDIT: nevermind, the graph represents western europe and the figures in hte article are global...

[RedStripe]

Originally Posted by puck724

the graph seems inaccurate from the information in the article...or am i just reading it wrong..

EDIT: nevermind, the graph represents western europe and the figures in hte article are global...

Geez, when I first posted to this thread, there wasn't the full text of the article. Now there are 3. Odd?

Anyways, the graph includes Chrysler vehicles, as noted by the big bump up starting in 1998, the year of the Merger. The text of the article really only talks about the Mercedes family of vehicles.

[MCS]

oops - sorry red stripe. I originally posted a snippet and went back to paste the full article.

We must of posted the info at the same time. Cheers!