Mercedes-Benz expects to lose the 2013 USA luxury sales race... and they're fine with that - Zetsche implies BMW plays with the numbers

[Sticky]

Mercedes-Benz is on record stating they do not expect to win in sales volume in 2013 and that they are perfectly comfortable with that. A few thoughts may be going through your head. Huh? What? For whatever reason, German manufacturers have engaged in a contest of measuring success by sheer volume of sales figures. To use a saying men reading this website will likely will be familiar with, it's all just a big dick measuring contest.

Last year Mercedes lost out to BMW at the buzzer so to speak under suspicious circumstances when BMW got a big jump in December sales figures. Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche stated the following, "I don’t think we’ll be No. 1 at the end of the year and that’s OK. We won’t play any games. I’m not sure that applies to our competition.”

Did BMW play with the numbers to get a boost? There were rumblings that they counted cars shipped to dealers over actual cars sold and that how they stayed ahead of Mercedes in the USA. BMWNA's attitude is such, "We like to be No. 1 and we are No. 1 in the world. Being No. 1 means success.”

BMW equates success to sales figures. Mercedes is equating success to building the best cars. Guess who's really winning where it matters?

Source

[BlackJetE90OC]

Fudging numbers:

However, a report in the Wall Street Journal indicates that BMW may not be playing entirely fair with its German rival, based on the two companies' most recent U.S. sales stats.In July, BMW reported sales of 21,297 vehicles, besting the 19,312 sold by Mercedes-Benz. However, WSJ says that hundreds of the vehicles that BMW counted as "sold" are still sitting in showrooms and remain in ads from dealers.

The source of the problem seems to be a notice that BMW sent out on the morning of July 31. In the memo, BMW offered dealers discounts on certain 2012 model-year vehicles -- discounts ranging from $2,500 for the BMW 528i to $7,000 for the 7-Series sedan. The catch? Those discounts were only valid for that day.

The evidence suggests that many BMW dealers purchased the eligible vehicles as "demo models", which are typically used for test drives or as loaners. Those demos are eventually sold to consumers -- sometimes as "new", other times as "used" -- but they're counted "sold" by BMW the minute they're bought by dealers.

[Sticky]

^ That's it. BMW is acting like such a bitch as of late.

[cturbos]

BMW does it a lot in Germany,register the cars then sell them used or demos.

[LZH]

Quality over quantity.