Why are Audi, BMW and Mercedes popular in uk?

some of the compact Mercs for example the a class are pretty good so I disagree there

I have held the view that if a manufacturer of large prestigious saloons starts sticking its badge on compact cars then it incurs the risk of downgrading the brand.

What size was the original BMW 3/20?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_3/20

The E21 was a two-door sports saloon. By the standards of the time it was a medium sized car. It was a bit of a niche car competing in a similar sector to the Toyota Celica or the Volkswagen Scirocco. In Britain its main competitor was the Triumph Dolomite.

The E12 was the main executive car from BMW, but being a younger company than Mercedes, that only took off as a significant player in the 1960s, it lived in the shadow of Mercedes. BMW has never been as successful or achieved the same degree of prestige with its 7 series compared with Mercedes and possibly Jaguar.

BMW really came into the limelight in the 1980s with its four-door E30 that defined the new compact executive class, in addition to its E28 full size executive car.

I think I saw this crap on Facebook the other day. Why would having British 'cooks' be hell ? Some of the best chefs are British. British cuisine, yeah. Chefs? No.

I have held the view that if a manufacturer of large prestigious saloons starts sticking its badge on compact cars then it incurs the risk of downgrading the brand. A bit like how Rover stuck its badge on the 200 back in the 1980s, followed by the Metro, had by the 1990s clearly shifted the brand from prestigious to commodity. Conversely, Toyota created the Lexus badge for its large luxury saloons sold in Europe and North America as a marketing gimmick to increase the prestige of what was previously the Toyota Crown.

I even think that BMW aren't as exclusive as they were back in the 1980s with the E28 and E30. After 2000 the owner of an E46 3 series was more likely to be a mundane office worker from Basingstoke than a solicitor, a successful businessman, or a yuppie who were the original drivers of E30s. In other words, the sort of person who would be driving a Vauxhall Cavalier in the 1980s and 90s.

@Arran90 yes it looks like these marques have a terrible multi-model marketing strategy...



Since 1990 they have each doubled their European market share.

At no point did the original commenter suggest that they manufacturers have bad marketing, only that they feel that the introduction of lower models dilutes the brand, which is true to an extent. I don’t agree with the general message behind the comment, but it’s hard to deny that a lower entry price into the brand ruins the exclusivity aspect a bit. Your graph shows that total sales have increased, no doubt due to the introduction of these new models, but it does not show the sales in the top segment - S Class / 7er / A8. It’s no surprise that introducing models at a lower entry price will increase sales, but I wouldn’t be surprised if sales of the flagship suffered as a result. Buyers who previously bought in that segment may be choosing to buy Bentley or Rolls Royce instead now.

I mentioned earlier that I don’t agree with the comment, and that’s because financially it makes sense to introduce lower models - Porsche, for example, are only able to continue to build the their GT cars because sales of the Cayenne and Macan can fund their development. But that doesn’t neglect the fact that introducing the SUVs took away from the exclusivity of the brand. The same goes for these luxury manufacturers - it makes sense to be making new models, but good sales doesn’t mean you can ignore that the three pointed star on the front of your S Class is now far more common than it once was.

Who owns Bentley and Rolls Royce Motors?

And @notdyls just for fun I had a look at 7-Series (blue) vs S-Class (red) vs A8 (yellow) vs all Bentley (green) vs all RR (purple)



Note the volumes for BMW, Mercedes and Audi are less than 2% of their total sales.

Source: http://carsalesbase.com

I do know but as far as I know they operate independently to their parent companies, so I don’t consider that to be diluting the brand.

Perhaps Bentley and Rolls were a bit of a stretch. I do think that there are buyers in this market who are leaving these brands though, possibly to Range Rover, who are also lowering their entry point, but the focus of their brand is still on the flagship. When you think of Range Rover, you think of the flagship model, not the Evoque. I don’t think the same could be said of BMW and the 7 series, for example.

It’s interesting to see the sharp fall in 7 series sales in recent years, it does seem to associate with the launch of new FWD models, something that is very much against the ethos of BMW. I’ll also reiterate that yes, the new models sell very well, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t coming at the expense of brand image to some extent.

2014 was when BMW introduced the FWD 2-Series, 7-Series sales have improved since then...

JLR is pretty tiny compared to BMW, and Range Rover sales are similar to the 7-Series.

At no point did the original commenter suggest that they manufacturers have bad marketing, only that they feel that the introduction of lower models dilutes the brand, which is true to an extent. I don’t agree with the general message behind the comment, but it’s hard to deny that a lower entry price into the brand ruins the exclusivity aspect a bit. Your graph shows that total sales have increased, no doubt due to the introduction of these new models, but it does not show the sales in the top segment - S Class / 7er / A8. It’s no surprise that introducing models at a lower entry price will increase sales, but I wouldn’t be surprised if sales of the flagship suffered as a result. Buyers who previously bought in that segment may be choosing to buy Bentley or Rolls Royce instead now.

I mentioned earlier that I don’t agree with the comment, and that’s because financially it makes sense to introduce lower models - Porsche, for example, are only able to continue to build the their GT cars because sales of the Cayenne and Macan can fund their development. But that doesn’t neglect the fact that introducing the SUVs took away from the exclusivity of the brand. The same goes for these luxury manufacturers - it makes sense to be making new models, but good sales doesn’t mean you can ignore that the three pointed star on the front of your S Class is now far more common than it once was.

German = quality

Heaven is where the Police are British, the Cooks are Italian, the Mechanics are German, the Lovers are French, and everything is run by the Swiss.

Hell is where the Police are German, the Cooks are British, the Mechanics are French, the Lovers are Swiss, and everything is run by the Italians.

That was true around the time when Fiat 132 had 40HP advantage over VW Passat B1 (which is why Passat was more reliable, less power to capacity=less stress on engine parts) and people laughed at Stig Blomquist when said he's going to race for Audi in the World Rally Championship, because Quattro was new and unknown, and Audi was so far known for making slow family cars.

Not to mention cars don't have nationality now. You have international engineering teams, 'German' manufacturers produce their cars in places such as Spain, Czech Republic and Poland, and some components are even imported from China.

And btw. this is both funny and historically true:
https://youtu.be/-yn16qpTraQ

They do generally offer good engines, gearboxes , suspension and steering e.g. bmw are darn good for a mass produced car in all these areas. But enough to command a premium over say a Mazda that does more or less the same?

Because they're premium brands. Even their entry level cars are very expensive. You get what you pay for.

and TFSI is a disastrous design that has problems with practically everything.

What's wrong with the TFSI engine? My 12yo A4 2.0 TFSI is going v strong (er, touch wood...).



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