BERLIN (Reuters) – Premium brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz weathered 2022’s rocky supply chain better than the mass-market Volkswagen brand, company data showed on Tuesday, with the fourth quarter providing universal relief for the carmakers particularly in China.
Mercedes-Benz saw the lowest fall in full-year output at 1%, pulled down by the Chinese market, which saw extensive lockdowns in the first quarter, according to a trading update by the luxury carmaker.
BMW saw a larger fall of 4.8% in brand sales, attributed by the company to supply chain bottlenecks and the lockdowns in China that eased towards the second half of the year.
But the Volkswagen brand fared worst in comparison to last year with a 6.8% fall in sales, attributed to supply chain issues affecting all model types.
Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz saw an uptick in fourth quarter sales as European supply chains improved and China relaxed its strict COVID-19 policies, though some companies have warned rising coronavirus cases among staff could still stymie output.
Volkswagen did not report separate fourth quarter sales. The Volkswagen Group is due to report deliveries on Thursday.
In total, BMW’s deliveries were around 355,000 vehicles above those of Mercedes-Benz, despite registering a fall from last year’s levels in every major region from Europe to Asia and the Americas.
Still, Mercedes-Benz has said it is no longer chasing volume, focusing instead on increasing its profit margins to at least 15% in 2022 and marketing itself as a luxury brand selling exclusive products.
To that end, its top-end Maybach brand saw record sales in 2022, Tuesday’s data showed, up 37% from last year’s levels while entry level model sales fell 10%.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Miranda Murray, Alexandra Hudson)
