CONSUMERS

Record Sales For Luxury Car Brands in 2013

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January 30, 2014

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Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, BMW, Porsche and Lexus deliver a host of record results in 2013 Rolls Royce’s Wraith Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, BMW, Porsche and…

Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.

PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.

In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”

The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris

Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, BMW, Porsche and Lexus deliver a host of record results in 2013

Rolls Royce’s Wraith

Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, BMW, Porsche and Lexus deliver a host of record results in 2013

2013 was a record breaking year for some of the luxury auto-industry’s biggest brands. Maserati achieved year-on-year growth of a whopping 145%, as the Fiat subsidiary introduced the new Quattroporte and Ghibli. Mercedes-Benz set an all-new record of over 1.4 million sales, as did BMW, which delivered over 1.6 million vehicles.

In general, the US remains the world’s largest market for luxury cars. Hot on its heels are China and the greater Asia Pacific region, with further growth coming from Latin America and the Middle East. There is even optimism for Europe, which is expected to buck a six-year decline in 2014 to expand by 2%, as demand “gradually” recovers from a two-decade low.

Sales in the region won’t return to pre-crisis levels in the “foreseeable future,” Philippe Varin, president of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, revealed to Bloomberg. Though demand remains strong for high-end models, the reason for market defying results by European luxury brands.

Below we take a look at the key facts and figures as luxury automotive giants reveal their results for 2013.

BMW Group

The BMW Group sold more vehicles in 2013 than ever before in the company’s history, an increase of 6.4% from the previous record year of 2012. Despite challenging economic conditions in many European markets, the BMW Group was able to maintain volumes in its largest sales region at the same level as last year, with 858,990 units delivered (-0.7%).

The company achieved its best-ever sales in the U.K. (188,837 units, +8.4%). BMW Group sales in the Russian market also climbed by 11.8% to a record 44,871 vehicles.

BMW sales rose 7.5% in 2013 to reach 1,655,138 vehicles, an all-time high for the brand. BMW also achieved its best-ever sales for the month of December, with a total of 155,835 vehicles delivered. The BMW 3 Series Sedan and 5 Series remain segment leaders in their respective categories, as significant gains were also recorded by the 6 Series.

Rolls-Royce delivered 3,630 cars to customers in 2013, up 1.5% to 3,575 vehicles – its fourth consecutive record year and the highest in the brand’s 110-year history.

Fiat Group

Consistent with the 2013 announcement that production would be maintained below the prior year’s level to preserve the brand’s exclusivity, Ferrari managed shipments to the network down to 6,922 street cars (-5% vs. 2012), including the first 20 units of the special edition “LaFerrari”.

North America remained Ferrari’s number one market, accounting for 32% of total sales. Ferrari reported 2013 revenues of €2,335 million, an increase of 5% over the prior year.

For 2013, Maserati posted a 148% increase in shipments to 15,400 vehicles, driven by the success of the new Quattroporte and Ghibli models launched during the year.

All markets contributed positively to the significant year-over-year increase, led by the U.S. and China. Revenues totalled €1,659 million for the year, an increase of 120% over 2012.

Further Reading: Fiat

Maserati Quattroporte

Daimler

Mercedes-Benz Cars delivered more cars in 2013 than ever before, with sales of 1,461,680 vehicles – an increase of 10.7% on 2012. The Stuttgart-based premium brand increased its sales in all regions. In key markets such as Germany, the US, Japan and Australia Mercedes-Benz was the best-selling premium brand in 2013.

“We look back on the best year of the Mercedes-Benz brand and have surpassed sales of the previous year by over ten per cent," revealed Dr Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

“Our growth strategy is working. In particular in Europe and the US we were able to gain further market shares. The double-digit sales increase in China shows: We are on the right track here as well.”

Tata Motors

Jaguar Land Rover delivered its best ever full year global sales performance retailing 425,006 vehicles in 2013, up 19%. New sales records were set in thirty-eight international markets for both brands, as Jaguar was named the fastest growing brand in Germany, India and the USA.

Jaguar delivered its strongest full year performance since 2005 retailing 76,668 vehicles, up 42%. Land Rover set another full year record retailing 348,338 vehicles, up 15%. Models from both brands received more than 195 international awards in 2013, with the Jaguar F-TYPE the most decorated vehicle.

“2013 has proven to be a very positive year for Jaguar Land Rover thanks to continuing strong demand for vehicles across the range," explains Dr. Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover CEO.

“Our unrelenting focus on design, technology, innovation and quality has seen Jaguar Land Rover reach global consumers in more markets than ever before thanks to its most desirable product line-up, enriched further in 2013 by the Jaguar F-TYPE and all-new Range Rover Sport”.

Toyota Motor Co.

Whilst the Toyota brand experienced its first decline in two years, Lexus posted at 7.1% increase on 2012, with global yearly sales of 46,773 units. In December 2013 alone, Lexus sales rose 14% marking the brand’s third-best month in its 24-year history.

Deliveries of the recently redesigned Lexus IS more than doubled. Sales of the ES, CT and all three Lexus SUVs increased as well. RX sales surpassed 100,000 units for the first time in six years.

Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen Group reported yet another strong increase in worldwide deliveries for the full year 2013, topping the record set in 2012. 9.7 million vehicles were delivered to customers, an increase of 4.3% on 2012 (9.3 million).

Audi delivered 1.58 million vehicles worldwide in 2013, growth of 8.3% year-on-year, of which 579,100 were delivered to the Asia Pacific region.

Demand for Porsche was also particularly driven by the Asia-Pacific region, where 49,700 of a total 162,100 vehicles were delivered. The U.S. was the second largest market, where 46,700 vehicles were handed over to customers.

Bentley sold 10,120 cars in 2013, 19 percent more than the previous year and the fourth-straight year of double-digit volume growth, the Britain-based carmaker revealed to Reuters.

Lamborghini increased its deliveries from 2,083 in 2012 to 2,121 in 2013 (+2%), with well balanced sales among EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) 34%, America 36% and Asia Pacific 30%. The U.S. represents the largest single market for the brand, followed by China.