How BMW manipulated semantics to claim victory over Mercedes in 2021 sales race

• BMW Group sold 2,521,525 passenger cars in 2021, up 8.4 percent
• BMW alone sold 2,019,534 cars, but lumps Motorrad's sales to pad up numbers to 2,213,795 units, claims to be ahead of Mercedes-Benz 
• Mercedes-Benz Cars leads BMW cars with 2,054,962 units

BMW says it ended 2021 by setting its highest ever sales record, with 2,213,795 cars sold, up 9.1 percent. Including MINI and Rolls Royce, the BMW Group sold 2,521,525 vehicles. Emphasis on 'vehicles' instead of cars.

Pieter Nota, member of BMW AG’s Board of Management responsible for Customer, Brands and Sales, said in a Linkedin post by the BMW Group, “Proudly claiming number one position in the global premium automotive segment for the BMW brand in 2021. A powerful operational performance and stellar product line-up created significant sales momentum particularly for our fully electric vehicles. This resulted in a solid sales growth for the BMW Group in 2021”

Three days later, Mercedes-Benz announced that it delivered 2,093,476 cars in 2021, including Smart models.

Five days later, Nota said in BMW Group’s own press release, “Despite supply bottlenecks and the continuing coronavirus pandemic: We achieved a strong sales performance in 2021, thanks to a powerful operational performance and stellar product line-up. Our brands reported numerous all-time best sales results around the globe - spearheaded by the BMW brand, which is number one in the global premium segment.”

Quite a few big name publications were pulled in by BMW Group’s narrative. Even Automotive News Europe published an article titled ‘Mercedes loses premium sales crown to BMW, as chip shortage hits deliveries’ and sub-heading that reads “First time in five years that the BMW has outsold its German rival.”

But that’s not true. Mercedes-Benz didn't lose its sales crown to anyone.

No, Mercedes-Benz is still the world No.1 luxury car brand in 2021

Because the BMW Group has so many brands under it, verifying the group’s claims can be tricky. With MINI, BMW Motorrad, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars under its belt, there are many ways to interpret the numbers.

Mercedes-Benz on the other hand, doesn’t like to play semantics. Its annual report clearly separates Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles from its luxury cars. Even Smart, which it co-owns with Geely, is also split out.

With semiconductor parts shortage affecting nearly every manufacturer, the obvious question would be how is it possible that BMW can deliver over several hundred thousand more cars than Mercedes-Benz?

Underneath the metal panels, the components used in making a BMW isn’t that different from a Mercedes-Benz. Many of it are even purchased from the same group suppliers.

The answer: BMW claims its lead over Mercedes-Benz by grouping its two-wheeler BMW Motorrad products with BMW cars.

Remove BMW bikes, sales of BMW-badged vehicles are reduced to 2,019,534 cars. That’s 35,428 cars less than Mercedes-Benz’s 2,054,962 cars, which exclude Smart but include V-Class and EQV.

So yes, like for like, Mercedes-Benz is ahead of BMW, but the Stuttgart company doesn't bother correcting its Munich rival's claim. More on that later.

Yes, BMW Motorrad bikes are premium vehicles but so is a Mercedes-Benz Actros. Just ask Hollywood stars why an Actros is their preferred motorhome, or ask timber and logistics tycoons in Klang and Kuching on what they think is the Rolls-Royce of the truck world.

Also, Daimler Truck is now a separate company from Mercedes-Benz Cars and Vans.

This manipulation of semantics to claim market leadership is unnecessarily confusing and makes for a hollow victory.

Mercedes-Benz has since moved on and it no longer bothers to correct BMW, which it has in the past. BMW can continue to shout that it’s the No.1 selling luxury automotive brand (bikes included) and Mercedes-Benz wouldn’t care.

*Note: V-Class and EQV are grouped under Mercedes-Benz Cars

CEO Ola Källenius is shifting Mercedes-Benz away from chasing ever higher sales numbers to focus on improving profitability.

In his ‘Strategy Update’ speech in October 2020, Källenius said “We will adjust the portfolio towards the highest pockets of profitability,” adding that Mercedes is “not going to chase volume” in lower-margin compact segments and that “we are prepared to eliminate models that we don’t think meet the profitability targets.”

Källenius says Mercedes-Benz is a luxury brand and it needs to think and behave like one, which implies limited supply to maintain desirability, which also means that it cannot be selling more and more cars to everyone.

“We will build the world’s most desirable cars. That’s it. That’s the statement of intent, that’s what we want to deliver,” he said.

If there is one manufacturer that can legitimately shout about its sales volume, it is Toyota, whose extensive kaizen work post-2011 tsunami allowed it to (almost) ignore shortage in semiconductor parts to post its second best-ever sales record in 2021, with 9.6 million cars (10.5 million including Daihatsu and Hino), making it the world’s biggest car manufacturer.

But even Toyota chose to stay quiet about it being the world’s biggest car company, because Toyota knows that at this scale, whether it’s No.1 or No.2 biggest, it doesn’t mean much.

Also read: 2021 was Toyota’s second best year ever, 10.5 million cars sold, pulls ahead of VW to be World No.1

What matters is whether its customers are happy, is the company profitable, is it prepared for the next decade?

For decades, General Motors was No.1 and we all know what good did that do.

BMW Group’s 2021 sales

All brands included, the BMW Group’s 2,521,525 vehicles sold is 8.4 percent higher than the previous year.

BMW’s i Series EVs more than doubled its sales, up 133 percent to 103,855 units. As for MINI, one in every 3 new MINI 3-door sold is a MINI Electric, making it MINI’s best-selling variant.

Also read: MINI's 2021 worldwide sales hit 302,144 units, MINI Electric most in demand 

The BMW iX and BMW i4 are not included above because deliveries for these two models only started late last year.

Sales of BMW M models also set a new record, with 163,542 M vehicles delivered, up 13.4 percent.

Likewise for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, which also set a new record sales of 5,586 units, up by a staggering 48.7 percent. If you book a Rolls-Royce today, you have to wait until Q3 2022 to get your car, earliest.

China is the BMW Group’s most important market, with 846,237 cars delivered there in 2021, up 8.9 percent, contributing 34 percent of its global 4-wheeler sales.

Mercedes-Benz’s 2021 sales

Mercedes-Benz sold 2,093,476 cars (including Smart) in 2021, down 5 percent from the year before. Sales of Mercedes-Benz-badged cars alone totalled 2,054,962, also down 5 percent.

Including commercial vans, sales totalled 2,427,686 vehicles, down 4 percent.

A bulk of the loss in sales came from the final quarter, when shortage in semiconductor parts caused deliveries to fall 24.7 percent.

In line with the company’s emphasis on profitability over sales volume, deliveries of its highest margin Mercedes-Maybach, Mercedes-AMG, and G-Class models were at record high.

Like BMW, China is also Mercedes-Benz's most important market, contributing 36 percent of the company's total sales (758,863 units).

EVs are a bright spot for Mercedes-Benz Cars, as sales of its EQ series models grew 155 percent to 48,936 units. Including electric Smarts, eVito and Mercedes-Benz EQV, total EV sales for Mercedes-Benz Cars and Vans is over 99,301 units, quite close to BMW Group (over 100,000 units).