Mercedes Benz regains the position of luxury car brand boss?

After lagging behind German domestic rivals BMW Motors and Audi for ten years, Mercedes-Benz will soon regain the top spot of global luxury car brands. Mercedes-Benz’s latest data show that Mercedes has surpassed BMW and sold 483,487 vehicles so far this year, up nearly 13% year-on-year, and twice as fast as BMW’s.

In contrast, BMW Group announced on the 12th that BMW's sales volume in the first quarter increased by 6% to 478,743 million units. On the same day, Volkswagen Group announced that Audi's sales in the first quarter increased by 4% to 455.75 million vehicles, ranking third in the world in luxury brands.

In fact, Mercedes-Benz has publicly announced that it will overtake BMW by 2020, and due to the popularity of new models such as the GLC SUV, this goal may be achieved in advance. In the second half of the year, Mercedes-Benz will release the E-Class sedan, so the momentum of sales may accelerate. In the first quarter, sales of Mercedes-Benz A-class and other small cars also increased by 26% to more than 150,000 vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz's ability to return to the luxury brand sales champion, the rapid growth of the Chinese market contributed. Statistics from the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Association show that in the first quarter of this year, the total number of new Mercedes-Benz models sold in China was 71,699, a dramatic increase of 53.9% year-on-year, and it seized the market several times faster than domestic BMW and domestic Audi. Although the total sales volume, FAW - Volkswagen Audi is still leading the sales of 128,494, but the market growth rate was only 7.1%, if according to this growth trend, Beijing Benz will soon achieve a comprehensive catch-up of FAW - Volkswagen Audi.

The new car is very popular and the new product strategy has achieved initial success

The new product strategy implemented by Mercedes-Benz last year has achieved remarkable results and is expected to be further strengthened this year. At the upcoming Beijing auto show, Mercedes-Benz’s new heavy-lift new car, the new long-wheelbase E-Class sedan, will usher in the world’s debut and will be officially launched in the second half of the year.

Specific to the models, the SUV became the biggest contributor to the sales growth of domestic Mercedes-Benz this round. In the first quarter, Mercedes-Benz GLK sold 17,755 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 19.6%. Another small SUV, the Mercedes-Benz GLA, also performed well. In March alone, the sales volume reached 6,176 units. For the first time, it surpassed the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 to become the sales champion in the segment market. In the first three months of this year, GLA accumulated sales of 16,618 vehicles. Since its listing in May last year, GLA has rapidly grown to become the market leader in less than a year.

Another popular model, the new Mercedes-Benz C-class sales in the domestic market since last year, sales continue to climb, in the first quarter accumulated sales of 24,443 vehicles, an increase of 30%, accelerated the pace of the pursuit of the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4L. As this series of products matures in the Chinese market, Mercedes-Benz will continue to expand the product line of the C-Class sedan. On March 30th, the all-new Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupe was officially launched, and two new models, C200 Coupe and C300 Coupe, were launched, priced at 388,800 yuan and 488,800 yuan respectively. In addition, travel versions based on Mercedes-Benz C-Class and AMG high-performance versions are also expected to be available during the year. By then, Mercedes-Benz C-class will form four series of products, a comprehensive layout of luxury mid-size car market.

Marketing innovation, brand reputation continued to consolidate

In addition to the successful launch of the new car, Mercedes-Benz's marketing has also been innovative, and continues to bring people topics and surprises. On March 7, at the time of BMW’s 100th birthday, Mercedes-Benz sent blessings to BMW on Twitter and Facebook. Mercedes-Benz embeds BMW's typical "double kidney front face" in a black picture and draws a beard underneath. The copywriting is just right. "Thank you for 100 years of competition! The 30 years without BMW is a bit boring! "The poster has exploded the circle of friends in the automotive industry and has become a remarked marketing case.

In addition, last year, when NASA announced the discovery of the terrestrial planet of Kepler 452b, Mercedes-Benz and BMW used #HI and another Earth # to have a marketing spree, which means that there is a meaning of showing off each other on two planets. BMW first came, “Do you still have “blue sky and white clouds”?” Mercedes-Benz imitated BMW's tone: “Do you see the sky star emblem?”

With social media, Mercedes-Benz's marketing is no longer blindly shaping the brand's magnificence, but more and more impressed young users and resonated, more ground-engaging marketing also makes Mercedes-Benz's reputation continues to consolidate and enhance.

After sales continue to increase, the dealer relationship is effectively improved

As of the beginning of this year, Mercedes-Benz's dealership network in the country has increased to 447, covering more than 214 cities across the country, 40% of which are third-tier and third-tier cities. In 2014, 106 dealers were added to 53 cities, achieving the largest network expansion in the history of Mercedes-Benz. In addition to the full rollout of dealerships, Mercedes-Benz also learns past historical lessons and experiences in dealing with tough dealerships in the past, strengthens communication and dialogue among distributors, and rationalizes and improves distributor relations. Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Company once set up a Mercedes-Benz strategic dealership club and organized 15 strategic dealers through further strengthening of communication channels with strategic investors. At present, these dealer group network coverage capacity reaches 70% and sales volume exceeds 70%.

In addition, Mercedes-Benz is constantly increasing its sales. On March 1, Mercedes-Benz announced that it will further reduce its wearing parts prices in the Chinese market this year, with an average reduction of 8% and an overall reduction in the average after-sales service price of 18%. Upon hearing this news, BMW immediately followed up and announced that it would cut the suggested retail price of 4,500 kinds of parts by as much as 30%.

It is precisely after making all-round changes such as new product strategy, marketing innovation and after-sales service that Mercedes-Benz gradually establishes its own advantages in the future. With its step-by-step approach in the Chinese market, it will achieve global catch-up sales for BMW and Audi. In the future, Whether or not the leading edge can be maintained, the performance of the Chinese market will become a key factor.