German Rivals Spar Over U.S. Sales

A war of words has erupted between DaimlerChrysler AG and BMW AG amid claims by Mercedes-Benz that its archrival recalculated its U.S. sales figures to boost market share.

Mercedes says that BMW brought forward vehicle sales in the U.S. last month to flatter its record. BMW denies it.

In a document obtained by The Financial Times, Mercedes claims: “It is our belief that, upon receiving competitive market intelligence on June sales, BMW retailed additional units that it held back for this specific purpose.”

BMW released a circular to auto makers July 1 giving its month-end retail numbers for June as 17,469 units. But when it issued a press release the following day, it gave 19,868 units as the monthly sales figure.

BMW has rejected Mercedes' allegations and says the new number reflects sales of demonstration cars and tax-free imports that were not in the preliminary figures.

Potentially more damaging are claims by Mercedes that BMW is offering dealers discounts of up to $8,000 on its new 7-Series model (above).