Audi, Mercedes forge ahead in China

September 6, 2010 06:01 CET

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FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Audi and Mercedes-Benz racked up more eye-popping sales in China in August, tapping into a rich vein of growth as living standards rise in the world's most populous nation.

Audi said its China sales jumped by two-thirds to 22,350 units, bringing the total for the past eight months to nearly 152,800, a year-to-date gain of 63 percent.

This puts China on track to eclipse Germany as Audi's single-largest market as domestic new-vehicle registrations amounted to 144,365 units through August, according to official data.

Audi controls a much bigger slice of the market than rivals such as Mercedes and BMW.

Daimler said sales of its Mercedes cars in China more than doubled last month to 13,400, bringing the year-to-date total to 88,500, up 129 percent.

Mercedes said that its global volume growth showed sales heavily skewed toward lucrative models like the E-class station wagon and S-class flagship executive sedan, which would indicate another strong quarter of profits since these models contribute more heavily to earnings.

"We expect sales to continue to develop favorably in the coming months as well. Worldwide, we want sales at Mercedes-Benz to grow at a double-digit rate in full-year 2010," said Mercedes sales chief Joachim Schmidt in a statement.

Overall, Mercedes-Benz brand global vehicle sales grew by more than 22 percent to 81,000 vehicles.

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Not too surprising since everyone is seeing growth in China. Audi is probably selling A3s and A4s, just as they do in the USA. Mercedes may not have the volume, but their top end cars bring in a lot of profit per vehicle.

Mercedes is likely selling a LOT of taxis there, too.

Mercedes is likely selling a LOT of taxis there, too.

I haven't seen a single Mercedes taxi in China. They're usually old VWs, Hyundais, and the occasional Citroen.