I don't think those companies care very much for "best selling" numbers, but for profitability numbers. Their margin are pretty big, and the question for each small car they sell is: how big are their margins? How much more will they charge for the 1-series then for, say, a Ford Focus?

When he was at Chrysler, Lee Iaccoca aways said that the thing with GM (at the time) was that their luxury divisions, specially Cadillac was so lucrative. Chrysler had to sell 20 cars for every Cadillac sold to get the same profit.

To me, the most interesting question is: which of those sell the most over priced cars: Audi, Mercedes or BMW? They all compete for roghly the same market, and I think they do not offer the same performance/features/build quality combination as some Infiniti and Lexus models. Of the three, I reckon Audi is the most overpriced one (among the overpriced cars). The FWD based AWD, the build quality, and the sport handling are (usually) not there, compared to a comparable Mercedes or BMW.

The question is complicated because you also pay a lot for the extras.
I still hate the fact that a loaded BMW cost so much more than one initially expects: premium leather, nav system, sport package, luxury package, you pay 5-10 grand for each. They should have come pretty loaded already, but they don't. For me, if your not going for the all out sport M3, a fully loaded 318i is a small car that is hard to justify. Say 2400 for active cruise control (standard on Infinitis), etc. You can easily put 15 grand on extras, 10k of which should come standard in any luxury car.

And still, there isn't much room in the back seat for three big teenagers, not to mention two 6' adults. Why buy a basic 328i sedan, or a 1.8 160hp Audi A4? beats me. For the money, I'd go elsewhere easily.

The problem with BMW's, Mercedes and Audi's is this,
they are so affordable that almost anyone can have one,

Toyota, Nissan and Honda products are great when it comes to quality and price, but please
don't compare classic European brands to anything else

Carlos

Carlos, why do you write "please don't compare classic European brands to anything else?", aside from a sick condescending and puritannical tone, what does that mean, really?

You surely don't think they don't want my money, or anybody else's who is also considering other brands. And if so, they should expect people to make objective comparisons, they can't expect every potential buyer is already biased for them. What is wrong with that?

Maybe in your mind Audi, Mercedes and BMW should try to sell cars only to their current customers, right? That would be SOOO smart!

I wonder why don't they follow your advice, though...

If I'm shopping for an item, say a cell phone, then the entire range of manufacturers and carriers is open for discussion.

If I'm shopping for a performance/luxury car, then why shouldn't I compare Europe and Japan (and soon Korea)? If Europe can't compete with Japan with the extras they throw in, and the European car ends up costing $15,000 more than a "truly" comparable Japanese machine, then perhaps I should vote with my pocket book, not just my right foot.

When you get the vehicles comparably equipped, you find the true cost of the nameplate.

I am not so sure as that it is right to say that just because these are luxury automobiles and because way back in the 60s Lee Iacoca said something about margins, that BMW, Audi, and Mercedes all make oodles of money. In fact they do, but compared with other automakers? There is the question.

Remember, most of these cars are produced on the most expensive continent on Earth: Europe. To this day that is the 3 series primary production site. And when you compare the earnings reports of BMW and Mercedes (which are freely available at any financial website), you will see they do not make oodles more money over any other automaker really. IS more of it margin? That may be the case with some automobiles, like the X5 which is made in South Carolina, but I would not go as far as to assume the same for the other cars.

At one time it was also ever so true that all electronics were made for $5 and sold for hundreds. I still get people telling me at BestBuy that the TVs there were made for pennies in China someplace. Having seen the balance sheets of many of these companies and having toured many plants, I can tell you that all electronics certainly are not made for pennies anymore. Maybe headphones and car chargers, sure. But the margins on your average LCD TV do not exceed $100 at retail. DVD players barely have any margin for retailers anymore.

Cars? Premium leathers and state of the art drivetrain components cost you know.

Maybe bang for buck, a G35 is a better car. But thats still debateable on so many levels.

All I ever ask people when it concerns corporate revenues anymore is that they realize there is a difference between revenue and retained earnings. Revenue is the total amount brought in before expenses, which include taxes among many costs, and dividends.

BestBuy last year made $7 billion. But can anyone tell me what their actual net income was?

these sales figures count all the econobox BMW/MB/Audi they sell in Euro, not impressive. These arent just US figures.

and yet BMWs net profits isnt as good as other companies, dont care how many they sell. GM/Ford sold a ton of vehicles yet still lost billions. Units sold is meaningless

After 3 BMWs I would never go back. Simply unreliable machinery. When they worked they worked fine but the snobbish attitude of BMW dealers and even owners is something a BMW owner must get used to but then add the unreliability to the menu and this car make loses all appeal. I have over 179k miles on my GS430 and it continues to impress me. Keep you German attitudes and snob appeal and keep me in mind when I drive by you.
BMW=go where they are towed