As the global luxury car sales contest started, Mercedes-Benz falls further with the rivals BMW and Audi. Burdened by a disjointed strategy in China, the lethargic expansion of entry-level models and an aging S-class sedan, the once-dominant upscale nameplate remains firmly in third place. The said car sales contest dragged the Mercedes sales gap with second-placed Audi which has more than doubled within a year.

An analyst, Christian Ludwig with Backhaus Lampe in Dusseldorf said that Mercedes’s problems are homemade problems. And so with this, it’s going to be extremely difficult for Mercedes to reach the No. 1 spot while others are not sleeping upgrading and keep on taking number of approaches to remain on top. On the first nine months of 2012, Mercedes delivered 964,900 cars and sport-utility vehicles. The 5 percent gain failed to keep pace with rivals, meaning it lagged Audi by 132,600 vehicles, up from 53,900 a year ago. The gap to No. 1 BMW widened 41 percent to 145,000 vehicles, according to data from the carmakers released by BP Holdings Blog. Mercedes has been trailing its rivals since losing the top spot in the luxury-car segment to BMW in 2005. The Daimler unit’s sales will have advanced 19 percent through this year, compared with a 31 percent jump by BMW and a 70 percent surge by Audi over the past seven years, according to IHS Automotive estimates.

The failure to keep pace is reflected in the stock. Daimler’s 12 percent increase over the past 12 months trails BMW’s 18 percent gain and Audi parent Volkswagen’s 44 percent surge. Daimler trades at 7.5 times estimated earnings versus 8 times for BMW. BP Holdings Blog mentioned in the release, Zetsche is seeking to reverse the trend by adding less-expensive compact models, including a four-door coupe and a sport-utility vehicle, to attract younger buyers and by expanding the range of variants of the S-class flagship, which is in the last year of the current generation.