Hyperdrive
Mercedes and BMW’s Dominance Wanes as Electric Brands Ascend
- Tesla, Nio and Li Auto’s growth coming at Germans’ expense
- Daimler wins global luxury sales crown for fifth year in a row
Daimler will introduce the EQA compact this month, one of four purely battery-powered vehicles it’s launching in 2021.
Photographer: Wolfram Schroll/BloombergMercedes-Benz narrowly beat BMW AG for the title of world’s best-selling luxury-car brand in 2020, a year in which cracks started showing in German dominance of the all-important China market.
BMW said Tuesday worldwide deliveries for its namesake division fell 7.2% to 2.03 million, coming within 136,000 units of Daimler AG’s main passenger-car line. While Mercedes outsold its archrival and topped the premium auto ranks for a fifth consecutive year, electric-vehicle companies led by Tesla Inc. made serious inroads in the world’s largest market.