lifestyle leader

Only a month after it first went on sale in Europe and a week in the U.S., BMW's brand-new 5-Series sedan, codenamed F10, is sold out in all-markets with customers having to wait up three to four months for deliveries, according to company officials.

"The 5-Series is at the core of the BMW brand and we knew it was going to be a very strong vehicle for us," said Ian Robertson, BMW's sales boss, today in an interview at an industry conference in Bilbao, Spain. "In the U.S., where it's doing very well, it could come to between 15 percent and 17 percent of our business as we ramp up," Robertson added.

Analysts like Georg Stuerze from UniCredit in Munich suspect that the new 5-Series, which shares as much as 70 percent of its technology with the company's flagship model, the 7-Series, appeals more to consumers than its predecessor because of its less divisive styling language.

Stuerze also suggests that the new 5er is 'stealing' market share from Audi's A6 because it will be soon replaced by an all-new model.



Nevertheless, Bloomberg reported that all three premium automakers in Germany are recording significant sales growth this year with BMW announcing an 11 percent increase in deliveries in May. Mercedes claimed sales were up 17 percent with the help of the new E-Class (+84%) while Audi saw a 15 percent increase in deliveries.