Chalk it up to cabin fever, a burgeoning economy or the dulcet drone of Mercedes pitch-man Jon Hamm. Sales of German luxury cars have never been better.In the first three months of the year, Audi, BMW and Mercedes sold 1.3 million vehicles worldwide, 9 percent more than in the year-earlier period. The Teutonic bragging rights stayed with BMW. It sold almost 451,600 vehicles around the world in the first quarter, besting 438,200 at Audi and 429,600 for Daimler's Mercedes Benz brand. Records were broken all around.
Of course, the whole exercise is a bit silly. Talking about volume without strapping it to profit is like spouting off the specs of an engine without mentioning the size of the vehicle in which it sits. But this is the auto industry. Underneath every Hugo Boss suit in the C-suites of Munich and Stuttgart is a person who simply loves to go fast (preferably on the autobahn en route to a screening of Furious 7). Steering is crucial, but speed is king.
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