Mercedes-Benz Poised to Topple BMW as World’s Luxury-Car King

  • New E-Class seen sustaining brand’s sales momentum into 2018
  • BMW sales capped by 5-Series changeover, new X3 late in 2017

The Mercedes-Benz badge.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Mercedes-Benz has built an all-but insurmountable lead over rival BMW in the race for the title of the world’s biggest luxury-car brand, and that sales momentum looks set to continue through at least 2018.

Surging demand for sport utility vehicles including the GLC helped Mercedes Bloomberg Terminaldeliveries jump 12 percent in the 11 months through November, more than double the pace of growth for BMW AGBloomberg Terminal’s namesake brand. That left Mercedes more than 69,100 cars ahead of BMW for the period, making it all but certain of regaining the sales crown this year.