NZ Premium Comparison : 2010-16

Premium cars are proving popular in many nations. They are often outselling cheaper mainstream brand while at the same time making more profit. More recently the most aggressive attack on this segment have been the BAM marques, BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz. However other car makers are striking back and the competition is heating up. So a look at sales in this decade would be interesting.

First taking the BAM brands out of the equation, how are things shaping up in New Zealand? From 2010 to 2016, sales were up 165%. Now individually: JLR +254% (LR +225% Jag +392%) Lexus +79% Volvo +314% Porsche +251% Alfa Romeo -10%. Tesla and Cadillac weren't there for every year.

Year	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
Total	3,449	2,924	2,505	1,822	1,672	1,474	1,301
JLR	1,531	1,208	1,007	653	578	469	432
Land Rover	1,157	1,033	885	523	458	424	356
Jaguar	374	175	122	130	120	45	76
Lexus	720	641	557	551	492	508	403
Volvo	608	505	421	234	244	183	147
Porsche	460	444	289	189	165	151	131
Alfa Romeo	106	105	231	195	192	163	118
Tesla	24	21	-	-	1	-	-
Cadillac	-	-	-	-	-	-	70

Summary: Porsche, Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar grew the most. Lexus cruised along, slowly growing but Alfa Romeo managed a drop. Infiniti and Acura are not sold here at all.

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Now adding the other brands to the BAM marques, how do things stack up? Total sales growth goes to 110%, while to the BAM brands increased 90%. The big winner with that three makes is Mercedes with +201% improvement. The 'Others' took 27% in 2010, 24% in 2013 before coming back to 34% in 2016. The BAM marques took 66% of all premium sales in 2016.

Year	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
Total	10,225	9,354	9,094	7,525	6,360	5,396	4,864
Others	3,449	2,924	2,505	1,822	1,672	1,474	1,301
Mercedes	2,482	2,095	1,813	1,482	1,094	981	824
BMW Group	2,464	2,569	2,701	2,400	2,054	1,610	1,458
BMW	1,864	1,954	2,132	1,910	1,646	1,217	1,135
Mini	600	615	569	490	408	393	323
Audi	1,830	1,766	2,075	1,821	1,540	1,331	1,281

Summary: The BAM trio are the most popular but increasingly are not having it all their own way.  Mercedes has gone from third to outright leader, while the BMW brand has overcome Audi. The three biggest in 2016 were 1) Mercedes, 2) BMW & Mini, 3) Audi.

Data source: MIA. Text source: RayCee.