Premium: German carmakers still lead, but new entrants are on the rise
- BMW remains the world's leading premium carmaker in 2025. The brand sold 2.17 million vehicles last year, a 1.4% decrease compared to 2024, due to a sharp drop in sales in China (-14.2%), where it faces stiff competition from new Chinese premium brands. Of the 536,163 vehicles sold in China, BMW imported 21,439 units, with the remainder produced domestically.
- Mercedes remains the second largest premium carmaker in 2025. The brand delivered 1.81 million vehicles (excluding commercial vehicles), representing a decrease of 9.6% compared to 2024. This decline is explained by a drop in its sales in China (-19.8%) where the brand sold 472,799 vehicles, of which 33,988 were imported, the rest being produced in China.
- Audi remains the third largest premium carmaker in 2025. Audi delivered 1.62 million vehicles last year (-2.9% compared to 2024) including 617,514 in China (33,726 imported, the rest being produced in China), representing a decrease of 2.7% compared to 2024.
- By comparison, Lexus sold 882,000 vehicles in 2025 and Volvo 710,000 vehicles. Next come the Chinese premium brands and Porsche, which sold fewer than 300,000 cars in 2025.
- The three major German premium brands (BMW, Mercedes, Audi) are facing increasing competition in China from Chinese premium brands that didn't even exist ten years ago. Hongqi and Xiaomi are already approaching 500,000 sales each by 2025 – having thus overtaken the American brand Cadillac – and other Chinese brands are developing rapidly in this category, four of them having overtaken the American brand Lincoln last year.
- The arrival of these Chinese premium brands in Europe could boost their sales, which will further weaken the position of traditional premium brands, such as BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche and Land Rover.