Audi has taken the top spot in luxury sales for the first two months of this year, beating out competitors BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
The German automaker delivered 242,400 vehicles through February, topping BMW sales by 383 vehicles, Bloomberg reported.
"Competition in the premium segment is more intense than ever," Audi Chief Executive Officer Rupert Stadler said Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. "We're ahead of our two main rivals in the first two months, but this doesn't really interest me much. Our focus is on further growth."
Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are all fighting to be No. 1 in the segment, a title that BMW has held for nine years in a row. While BMW seems to be the main competitor, Audi shouldn't discount Mercedes, which has seen record growth in recent months.
"Both BMW and Audi will face increasing competition from Mercedes this year," Daniel Schwarz, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank AG, told Bloomberg by phone.
Next steps for Audi include 17 new or updated vehicles this year as part of a long-term growth plan. The Ingolstadt, Germany-headquartered company, which has never been No. 1 for a whole year, plans to invest $30.5 billion in the next five years to spur growth.
The carmaker will also be investing in the burgeoning Chinese market, where Audi is opening a new dealership each week and predicts that sales will exceed 500,000 this year.
BMW will be rolling out new vehicles as well, including an update on the X5 SUV.
"The innovative new models coming out this year, such as the 2-Series Active Tourer and 4-Series Gran Coupe, will give us the momentum to keep growing in 2014," Ian Robertson, BMW's sales chief, said Tuesday in a statement, as quoted by Bloomberg.
While Audi may have come out on top for the first eight weeks of 2014, BMW is the likely contender to claim the No. 1 spot, which would be for the 10th year in a row.
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