BMW promises to maintain its advantage over Mercedes in luxury cars

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The next major new model BMW 5 Series the premium sedan, will not arrive until 2017.l 5 Series will compete with the new version of the Mercedes E-Class introduced in March.

 

BMW vowed to defend his position as number one market for luxury cars in 2016 after being overtaken by Mercedes-Benz in the first half, illustrating the challenge facing to maintain high sales and margins without new model of great impact.

"We intend to continue leading our sales for BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands this year," said CFO Friedrich Eichiner in a telephone interview on gains on Tuesday. Eichiner emphasized both in profitability and deliveries and said the company will maintain its goal margin of around 8% to 10% of sales.

BMW faces the end of a decade as the largest maker of luxury cars, taking Mercedes the lead in the first six months of this year thanks to its po[CENSORED]r luxury sedan class S and a line of models redesigned to satisfy all market niches. Beyond its bragging rights, BMW must maintain momentum to finance a costly expansion into electrical and self-driving cars, after promising the introduction of an autonomous vehicle by 2021.

The next major new model BMW 5 Series the premium sedan, will not arrive until 2017. The Series 5 will compete with the new version of the Mercedes E-Class introduced in March, after a new version of the model higher-end BMW 7 series cost him compete against the Class S unit Daimler AG. Another challenge is the tendency for US customers to SUVs, which has increased the discounts on the main line of BMW. Auto sales in the US fell 9% in the first six months, with more than 9,000 vehicles less than Mercedes.

Defining leadership
"A BMW will cost to maintain the leading position in sales because it has no obvious selling this year," said Sascha Gommel, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. "That said, automakers define 'leadership' in very different ways, sometimes as that seems more appropriate."

Shares fell 1.6% to 75.87 euros in Frankfurt at 12:56. Daimler fell 2.4% to 59.26 euros. BMW was down 22% this year, compared with a 5.2% drop in the benchmark German DAX index.

Harald Krüger, CEO of BMW, gave a clue to the way the company define leadership in the future, saying that the future viability of the company depends on "the strength of the brand and an innovative impulse", added to the sales and financial performance.

Investment in Technology
BMW is investing in technology to compete with new rivals like Uber Technologies Inc. and Tesla Motors Inc. The company is working with Intel Corp. and Mobileye NV in your car without a driver and Tuesday highlighted a 87% increase in sales the first half of its electric models, thanks in part to a new version of the i3 city car.