BMW Sold Nearly 550,000 More Cars Than Audi In 2025
2025 wasn’t necessarily a great year for BMW, but the past 12 months were even tougher for its main rivals. Munich saw deliveries slip by 1.4% to 2,169,761 vehicles, still enough to retain the luxury sales crown. Earlier this week, Mercedes announced a 9% decline to 1,800,800 units. Now it’s Audi’s turn to report how it fared in the year that just ended.
The Four Rings brand posted a 2.9% drop in 2025, with customer deliveries totaling 1,623,551 vehicles. As a result, the Ingolstadt-based automaker had to settle for third place, trailing BMW by nearly 550,000 cars, while Mercedes finished ahead by almost 180,000 units.
A closer look at electric vehicle sales shows BMW finishing well ahead of its two domestic rivals. Although Audi’s EV deliveries jumped by 13% to more than 223,000 units, that still wasn’t enough. BMW sold over 330,000 combustion-free vehicles in 2025. Mercedes took last place on the EV podium, with just over half of BMW’s total at 168,800 vehicles.
When it comes to performance cars, BMW once again came out on top. The M division grew by 3.3% to 213,457 units, including both M Performance and full-fat M models. Mercedes-AMG delivered 145,000 vehicles, up 7% year over year. Audi Sport, meanwhile, ended the year at just 36,000 units, down 13% from 2024. It’s worth noting, however, that only RS models count as Audi Sport products, while the more common S-badged cars are excluded.
Unsurprisingly, all three brands suffered additional setbacks in China, the world’s largest car market. BMW (including MINI) fell 12.5% to 625,527 vehicles, Audi declined by 5% to 617,514 units, and Mercedes plunged by 19% to 551,900 cars. The rapid rise of domestic brands, offering increasingly competitive products at much lower prices, is taking a heavy toll on legacy automakers.
Lexus has yet to publish its 2025 sales results, but it’s highly unlikely to challenge German dominance. The brand sold 851,214 vehicles in 2024, an exceptional showing as deliveries more than doubled. Toyota’s luxury division grew by 103.3% year over year, setting a new record and solidifying its position as the world’s fourth best-selling luxury brand.
First published by https://www.bmwblog.com
