2023 Luxury Car Market Unveiled: BBA's Position is Solid, and Second-tier Competition Is Deadlocked

As major brands announce their sales volumes one after another, the 2023 luxury car market rankings have been officially announced.

Compared with the previous year, the seats of brands in the luxury car market in 2023 have not changed, with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi (BBA) still firmly in the first camp, ranking in the top three, and all of them reversed the decline in 2022 and achieved year-on-year growth, further consolidating their leading position in the luxury car market.

Among the second-tier luxury, Cadillac and Lexus are still leading the way, although the sales of these two brands have decreased slightly year-on-year, but they still maintain a scale of more than 180,000 units. It was followed by Volvo, which jumped to a new height of 180,000 units, and Jaguar Land Rover became the fastest-growing luxury brand.

It is worth mentioning that luxury brands are constantly adjusting their strategies to respond to the changes in the sales structure of China's auto market and accelerate the transformation of electrification.

BBA is firmly positioned and continues to increase its electrification transformation

In the complex and challenging year of 2023, the luxury car market has delivered a satisfactory answer, among which BBA has ended the collective decline of the previous year and achieved stability and improvement. In the case of no change in the ranking seats, there are bright spots in performance.

Firmly sitting on the first throne, it is still BMW. According to official data, in 2023, BMW delivered a total of 82.45 new cars (BMW and MINI brands) in the Chinese market, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%, and the total sales volume continued to lead the Chinese luxury car segment. At the same time, BMW will still be the top seller in the global luxury segment in 2023.

"In 2023, the pattern of China's auto market has undergone tremendous changes, with new players joining the battlefield, new technologies being rapidly applied, and increasingly fierce competition. We have not only strengthened our leading position in China's luxury car segment, but also firmly promoted the transformation of our product lineup to smart electrification. Gao Xiang, President and CEO of BMW Group Greater China, said.

Driven by six all-electric models on sale, BMW's all-electric models contributed nearly 100,000 units to the group's sales, which is rare among luxury brands. According to the data, in 2023, the sales volume of BMW brand pure electric vehicles will be 99,972 units, a year-on-year increase of more than 138%, and the monthly sales will exceed 10,000 units for two consecutive months in November and December.

In 2024, BMW will bring more electric products, including the all-electric iX2 and all-electric i5 station wagon, as well as the all-electric MINI Aceman, MINI Countryman, MINI Cooper three-door version, etc. According to sources, BMW plans to achieve 20% of total sales of electric models in 2024 and increase to 25% by 2025.

BMW is followed by Mercedes-Benz, with a cumulative delivery of 765,000 new vehicles in 2023, almost the same level as in 2022 and a slight increase of 1.7% year-on-year. Among them, the Mercedes-Maybach brand, a high-end luxury product, and the G-class off-road vehicle achieved annual growth of 21% and 22% respectively.

In the context of the "price war" throughout the year, Mercedes-Benz maintained a higher transaction price than its competitors and a lower terminal discount rate. According to the data of the average transaction price monitoring of naked cars in the terminal market, the current average transaction price of the Mercedes-Benz brand is 457,500 yuan, and the terminal discount rate is 12.60%, which is 66,000 yuan and 124,000 yuan higher than the transaction price of BMW and Audi respectively, and the discount rate is 5-8 percentage points lower.

It is worth mentioning that Mercedes-Benz's new energy vehicle matrix delivery has climbed, the annual delivery of pure electric models has doubled, and plug-in hybrid models have once again led the luxury car market. Based on this, in 2024, Mercedes-Benz will bring more than 15 new and new generations covering a variety of drive modes and multiple product matrices.

"In 2024, with the launch of a number of products, including the all-new all-electric G-Class off-road vehicle, the all-new Maybach EQS all-electric SUV, the all-new CLE family, and the next-generation EQA and EQB SUVs, we will fully meet the diverse needs of Chinese customers in sustainable luxury mobility with high-quality products and customer experience, and continue to participate in the transformation and upgrading of China's automotive industry," said Duan Jianjun, President and CEO of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales & Service Co., Ltd. ”

Compared with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Audi in the "German top three" is slightly behind in overall sales, but its growth rate is fast and the stamina is very strong. According to official data, Audi delivered a total of 728,000 new vehicles in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%, which is higher than the overall level of the luxury car market and is the fastest growing brand in the BBA. Among them, 31,025 new vehicles of Audi's all-electric e-tron series were delivered throughout the year.

"In 2023, Audi has demonstrated a strong market presence in China, with another increase in customer deliveries, which is a testament to the success of our 'In China, For China' strategy," said Wen Zeyue, President of Audi China. Thanks to the concerted efforts of our joint ventures, dealers, suppliers and the Audi team, we are laying a solid foundation for 2024. ”

In the future, Audi will further deepen its localization strategy and promote the development of high-end e-mobility in China. For example, Audi FAW New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. will start pre-production of PPE platform models in early 2024, and will officially start production of the Audi Q6 Le-tron model by the end of the year. Building on the deepening of the cooperation between Audi and SAIC, Audi will enter a market segment that has not been previously covered in China by introducing new electric models.

The second-line luxury of the stalemate, the rising Jaguar Land Rover

In 2023, the sales ranking of second-tier luxury brands in China will also remain unchanged, with Cadillac, Lexus, and Volvo still ranking in the top three, with annual deliveries of 180,000 units or more, 183,000 units, 181,000 units, and 180,000 units, respectively. It can be seen that the gap between the three is not large, and the qualifying round is very stale. In terms of growth rate, Cadillac and Lexus showed a slight decline, falling by 1.2% and 1.3% respectively.

Although the competition was stalemate, the position of the leader of the second-tier luxury car market was finally won by Cadillac.

Cadillac's victory has a lot to do with its CT5, the brand's best-selling model. According to the data, in 2023, CT5 will contribute nearly half of Cadillac's sales with 84,000 units, and CT5 sales will exceed 10,000 units for the first time in October, rising to 10,238 units, and the performance in November and December will also be remarkable, contributing 8,037 and 9,100 units respectively.

Although Lexus also ended up with a slight decline, "Lexus is special, and it has a strong voice in the imported car market." Tian Li, an auto analyst, told the China Times.

Lexus has always been a special existence, it is sold in China in the form of pure imports, and there has been a grand situation where it is difficult to find a car and the car is picked up at a higher price, and it sold 227,000 units at its peak in 2021. In 2023, Lexus will still be the sales champion of China's imported brands, and the number of imports is even higher than that of first-tier luxury brands.

In terms of models, Lexus alone occupies three of the top five annual sales of imported cars in 2023. Among them, Lexus ES also won the first place in annual imported model sales with a sales volume of 110,100 units, while Lexus RX and NX ranked third and fourth respectively.

Unlike Cadillac and Lexus, which are basically flat, Volvo will end its hovering between 150,000, 160,000, and 170,000 units in recent years in 2023, and its sales in China will climb, exceeding 180,000 units for the first time, reaching 180234 units, a record high. Among them, Volvo S90 sold 40,379 units, a year-on-year increase of 22%, Volvo XC90 sold 19,615 units, a year-on-year increase of 11%, and Volvo XC60 sold 70,811 units, a year-on-year increase of 10%.

In addition to the sales growth, another highlight of Volvo is its business transformation. In 2023, Volvo has rethought the way it launches its products on the market with the creation of a new business unit, "Volvo Cars Energy Solutions". "2023 has been a tumultuous and exciting year for Volvo Cars. That's how Volvo Cars summed up the changes in the year. In 2024, Volvo will launch the EX30, EM90 and EX90 three new all-electric vehicles equipped with the latest technology, for the first time in the brand's history.

What's more, Volvo Cars, which is known for its safety, has retained this background in the era of electrification. "While many luxury brands have lost their inherent labels in the electrification era, Volvo still sticks to a very strong safety label. Yu Kexin, acting president of Volvo Greater China Sales Company, said.

Jaguar Land Rover, which ranks fourth in the luxury car market, is the fastest growing brand in the entire luxury car market.

According to the data, in 2023, Jaguar Land Rover's sales in China will reach 106,400 units, a year-on-year increase of 25%. Among them, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport delivered more than 25,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 31%, Land Rover Defender delivered nearly 20,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 59%, Land Rover Discovery annual sales increased by 14%, and Jaguar XFL, Jaguar F-PACE, Jaguar E-PACE and other Jaguar brands increased by 23% year-on-year.

"We have always insisted on innovation and localization, so as to build cars for the Chinese market and Chinese users. Mr. Ma Zhenshan, Executive Vice President of Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automobile Co., Ltd. and Executive Vice President of Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Jaguar Land Rover Joint Marketing Sales and Service Organization, said: "The continuous sharpening of brand and product power has enabled us to achieve steady growth in 2023. In the future, Jaguar Land Rover will fully leverage the potential of local innovation and deeply integrate its products and services into its products and services, and continue to create a pure British luxury experience for Chinese users. ”

And then there's Lincoln, which has its own way. According to some data, Lincoln's cumulative sales in 2023 will be 70,000 units. However, compared with the annual sales, what is more noteworthy is that Lincoln's volume in China has reached a new level. According to the data, after 9 years in China, Lincoln reached the milestone of 500,000 cumulative sales in China in November. In addition, the data of Infiniti and Genesis, which has entered China three times, has not been officially released. However, some media reported that more than half of Infiniti's dealers were closed, and the situation was not optimistic.

Editor-in-charge: Li Yanan Editor-in-chief: Yu Jianping