Mercedes vs. BMW: Big fight over small cars

Onrushing BMW (and Audi) is chipping away at Mercedes' share of the premium market. According to IHS Automotive, M-B now commands 21.4%, down from 25% in 2001. BMW used to promise sales of two million vehicles by 2020 but is running so hot that it moved the target date sooner to 2016, and its 3-series is the top-selling luxury car in the world. Mercedes chief Dieter Zetsche has vowed Mercedes will more than double sales by 2020 and pass BMW, but analysts are -- to put it politely -- skeptical.

Advantage: BMW

NEXT: 2. Operating efficiency

By Alex Taylor III, senior editor-at-large @FortuneMagazine - Last updated July 12 2012: 9:17 AM ET

Join the Conversation

Get the latest car news:

Most Popular

The Winklevoss twins are Bitcoin bulls
Bernanke's advice for college grads
Signs of new housing bubble in several areas
Dirty medicine
Prison exclusive: Bernie Madoff can't sleep

About CNNMoney
Content
Magazines
Site Tools
Stay Connected
- My Account
- Mobile Site & Apps
- Facebook
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- YouTube
- RSS Feeds
- Newsletters
- Tumblr
- Google+

Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones Indexes^SM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones Indexes^SM © 2013 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.