German premium carmakers' sales battered in China and Germany amid slowdown

Germany's top-end carmakers took a battering at home and in China in 2024, sales volume data showed, as wealthier consumers held back on purchases amid an uncertain economy and on slower than expected electric vehicle sales.

BMW on Monday reported a 2.3 percent drop in overall vehicle sales at its BMW brand, compared to a 3 percent drop at Mercedes-Benz Cars and Porsche, and a 12 percent drop at Volkswagen's Audi.

In China and Germany, however, BMW saw falls of 13.4 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, while Mercedes' sales were off by 7 percent and 9 percent. Audi's sales fell by 11 percent in China and by 21 percent in Germany.

China's domestic market, the world's largest, maintained steady growth in 2024, but foreign carmakers with less competitive EV line-ups lost ground to Chinese EV-only rivals as a price war and subsidised trade-ins for greener vehicles drove demand.

In Germany, car demand remains well below pre-pandemic levels, with around 2.8 million cars sold last year - around 1 percent less than 2023 and a quarter below 2019 sales.

Battery-electric sales in the country are down by a quarter from 2023, according to German motor authority data, while hybrid sales rose 12 percent to around 950,000.

BMW's electric-only sales globally bucked the trend, rising 13.5 percent to around 430,000 while Mercedes-Benz's battery-electric sales fell by 23 percent.

One bright spot for Mercedes was a jump of 34 percent in its top-end vehicle sales in the fourth quarter, propped up by solid US demand, a sign that dealers may be stocking up inventory ahead of Donald Trump imposing higher tariffs on European-made cars.

(Reuters)