2012 BMW Mini Cooper Countryman
After eight years as king of the hill among premium car sellers in Canada, BMW may surrender the crown to arch rival Mercedes-Benz this year - though not without a good fight, says BMW Group Canada CEO Franz Jung.
"The message is we think we still have a chance to overtake them (Mercedes-Benz) and with the oldest lineup in the (premium) segment," he said Thursday at a business update.
BMW brand sales trail Mercedes brand sales by 1,840 units so far this year (17,413 to 19,253), according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. That's a fair gap to make up in the final four months of 2010. However, combined BMW and Mini sales are a mere 429 units behind Mercedes and its Smart brand (20,296 to 20,725). BMW brand sales are up 8.3 per cent this year, while Mercedes brand sales are up 20.8 per cent.
Jung says being on top is important to both his organization and BMW owners - "because our customers want to buy success" - but he'll settle for No. 2 rather than spend "$10-million more to get the last 500 units." In other words, there will be no fire sales at BMW Canada this year. Jung's position is in sharp contrast to where he and BMW Canada were at this time last year.
"It was a very expensive ride last year. So much was spent on maintaining our No. 1 status," he said, adding that there will not be a rerun of 2009 this time around in 2010.
"I am not sure we can overtake them (Mercedes-Benz Canada), but last year at this time we were in exactly the same position," he said, adding that he is reluctant to push too far with incentive spending because "every discount is not good for the brand."
To bolster the sales push down to the 2010 finish line, BMW Canada has just launched the 323 Luxury Edition which at $37,650 comes with some $3,500 in extra equipment - including automatic transmission, 17-inch alloy wheels, electric front seats, Bluetooth and USB compatibility, and an electric glass sunroof.
Then later this month, BMW Canada will introduce something called Service Inclusive. For an as-yet undisclosed fee, BMW will give Canadian owners an extended warranty and a more comprehensive service package. Jung described it this way: the customer "gets more service for less money." Details are yet to be released.
Jung confidently predicted that next year and going forward, BMW Canada will almost certainly trump Mercedes for the premium segment sales crown. A barrage of new models, starting in the new year with the 2011 reinvented BMW X3 and the all-wheel-drive Mini Countryman, will do the trick he said.
Jung didn't quite come out and say that second is the first loser -- as Nike famously once did - but the sting of lining up behind Mercedes was obvious. The whack to BMW's pride will surely linger long into 2011 and beyond.