Mercedes-Benz sold more luxury cars worldwide than any Audi or BMW in July as its increasing deliveries in China defied a market slowdown there.
Encouraged by demand for its C-Class sedan and compact cars in China, leading brand of Daimler posted global sales increased 15 percent last month to 149 753 vehicles.
BMW's namesake brand sold 147,513 vehicles last month, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier. Deliveries in luxury unit of Volkswagen Group, Audi, rose 1.4 percent to 146,100 cars.
"In China, the market situation remained challenging as expected, exacerbated by the crisis in the market," Luca de Meo, Audi sales chief, said in a statement Friday.
In July, Audi sales in China fell 13 percent to 42 267 while sales of BMW brand fell 7.4 percent to 32,226 units on the market of the world's largest automaker. Mercedes, meanwhile, has increased sales in China by 42 percent to 29,540 vehicles last month.
Challenge currency
China's decision this week to devalue its currency by more than two decades to combat the economic downturn was a challenge for the three German luxury brands.
The policy change reduces the value of their income in the country, the market for the world's largest automaker.
Daimler said the devaluation will have a "minor" effect on earnings this year, while BMW said it is working to manage its exposure to fluctuations in the yuan.
Deliveries China car fell 2.5 percent last month to 1.3 million units, the lowest level since February 2014, according to the China Association of Passenger car. The slowdown adds pressure to the struggle for market share of luxury.
Audi and Mercedes both have pledged to move to BMW as selling brand of luxury cars in the world at the end of the decade.
In the US, Audi sales rose 21 percent to 17,654 vehicles in July on strong demand for its SUVs. Until July, the volume of US Audi was up 12 percent to 111 269 units, pushing the automaker past the 100,000 mark, after seven months for the first time. Audi is on track to grow at more than twice the pace of the US market for the second consecutive year.
Mercedes US sales rose 1.2 percent to 27,526 last month and sales of BMW brand rose 2.1 percent to 26,970 units.
Closing in Audi
Mercedes surge in July left only 272 points behind Audi after seven months for second place in the global race for premium sales. BMW remains No. 1 overall.
Until July, Mercedes sales rose 15 percent to 1,048,178 million cars. Sales of the BMW brand in the same period amounted to 1,079,563 vehicles, up 5.2 percent from the previous year, while Audi sales advanced 3.5 percent to 1.04845 million vehicles.
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