Despite holding a slight advantage in first-half sales, Mercedes-Benz's Chief Executive Officer doesn't expect the company to take home the crown of best-selling luxury marque in the United Sates this year.
Through the first six months of the year Mercedes held a 1,519 unit advantage over BMW, but company CEO Dieter Zetsche predicts the Stuttgart-based automaker will lose that lead to its cross-country rival by the end of 2013.
“I don’t think we’ll be No. 1 at the end of the year and that’s OK,” Zetsche told Reuters. “We won’t play any games. I’m not sure that applies to our competition.”
Mercedes has finished second to BMW in U.S. sales for the last two years, including last year's photo finish. Mercedes held a slight lead over BMW going into the final sales month of the year, but BMW managed a spectacular December and zoomed past for the win.
Last year's title wasn't without controversy, however, as BMW recorded the most sales while Mercedes claimed the highest number of vehicle registrations.
Mercedes' sales increased 10 percent to 141,950 deliveries during the first half, compared to BMW's 11 percent improvement to 140,431 units.
Zetsche has vowed to make Mercedes the world's top luxury automaker by 2020.
Read more at http://www.leftlanenews.com/mercedes-ceo-concedes-defeat-in-us-sales-race.html#4DaMGrZQ2oJDeWWs.99
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