BMW, Mercedes and Audi face a new challenger - and it's not Chinese

Monday 13 April 2026 15:39 BST

For car companies, the lure of having a premium brand in the line-up brings not only a huge amount of kudos, but also the prospect of bigger margins – these are cars aimed at well-heeled customers willing to pay more for a posh badge.

So it’s no surprise that many of the world’s biggest car makers have tried – and often failed – to take a slice of this lucrative premium pie.

The world’s largest car company, Toyota, has had its Lexus brand for 36 years, yet it still isn’t quite regarded in the same way as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. Nissan’s Infiniti continues in some markets, but it withdrew from the UK and Europe at the end of the last decade. Jaguar, meanwhile, has stopped trying to rival the German heavyweights altogether, and is now hell-bent on reinventing itself as a luxury rather than premium brand.

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Last week in Paris, amid plenty of expensive fanfare and a marketing campaign fronted by Daniel Craig (proof that some people will do anything if the cheque is large enough), Chinese giant BYD launched its Denza brand. Its USP is the fastest-charging electric cars in the world, but – as Stellantis’ struggles with DS show – it will be a long road to challenge the established German players.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/cars/electric-vehicles/bmw-mercedes-audi-car-rivals-luxury-evs-b2956678.html