Car bosses Ola Källenius, Gernot Döllner and Oliver Zipse (from left): For experts, a brand has “disappeared into obscurity”. Photo: Dpa, Reuters, PR, brckmnn [M]
Dusseldorf. BMW, Mercedes and Audi are still the largest premium brands in the world. But will they stay that way? All three German manufacturers are under pressure and have lost sales.
However, BMW has remained comparatively stable. In 2025, the Munich-based company delivered almost 2.2 million vehicles from its core brand to customers. That’s 1.4 percent less than a year ago, but things are looking significantly worse for direct competitors.
At arch-rival Mercedes, sales fell by nine percent. The Swabians only handed over 1.8 million cars to dealers – fewer than at any time since 2014. At Audi, sales fell by three percent to 1.6 million vehicles, as the Ingolstadt-based company announced on Wednesday.
Handelsblatt worked with industry experts to analyze who has the best future prospects based on strategy, financial indicators and sales figures.