[mr.smith]

Last year Mercedes-Benz took a close second to BMW by selling 7,000 less luxury vehicles in the US market. This year, despite leading half year sales by about 1,500 units, Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche says that he is not expecting to win the sales race.

Though sales were less than BMW last year, 5,000 more Mercedes-Benzes were registered in the US than BMWs. Maybe last year wasn't a complete loss then...

Why do you think Zetsche is downplaying the chances of Mercedes-Benz leading sales for this year?

 

[BenzFan]

probably because they are selling vehicles in other big world car markets which they are possibly doing better in. the U.S. market is VERY competitive, we have just about ever luxury car maker here.

 

[mr.smith]

Fair enough, but having such close sales numbers to their nearest competitor, wouldn't Benz just want to really push to overtake them for the prestige alone?

 

[brianch]

Good point Benzfan.

Or maybe the CEO is just humble

 

[mr.smith]

This sales race is still extremely close. Analysts say that this could be the first time since 2010 that BMW won't win the US luxury sales brand as Mercedes is currently expected to win. In 2010 the winner was Lexus.

Do you think that BMW and Mercedes care if they win or lose this sales race, or are they more concerned with just doing the best they can?