Mercedes and BMW: Discount battle in the duel of the top dogs? Oliver Zipse on the insights from BMW marketing.
For years, there has been intense competition in the luxury segment between Mercedes (S-Class) and BMW (7 Series). BMW is pursuing an interesting pricing strategy with the E-version (i7), which is positioned up to €15,000 above the Mercedes EQS model – despite rather weak sales figures that are significantly below plan. Oliver Zipse’s comments on this are noteworthy:
“The Munich-based company also does not want to give discounts after its own weak market launch. ‘I can only speak for us, but how can you launch a car on the market and be surprised by the response,’ commented BMW CEO Oliver Zipse on the competitor’s discount campaign. Before BMW offers a vehicle, countless customer tests are carried out to find out in advance how potential interested parties react. ‘We should not be surprised: Oops, it doesn’t work. Then something went wrong in the marketing strategy,’ Zipse explained in November 2022. His plan has so far not worked out either..”
– Markus Fasse and Franz Hubik in “Mercedes beats BMW in the luxury segment – With the new 7 Series, BMW wanted to catch up with the S-Class and the EQS from Mercedes. But so far the plan is not working.”, Handelsblatt from January 15, 2024, page 5, No. 10.
