Unit sales in China up by 53.1% to a new record, premium market leader in Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia and Spain.
04 Sep 2015 | 4319 Views | By Autocar Professional Bureau
With double-digit growth in unit sales (+17.6%), Mercedes-Benz set a new best mark in August, achieving the 30th record month in succession. For one year, the brand has been recording a double-digit growth rate every month. In total, 139,802 vehicles of Mercedes-Benz were delivered in August. Since the beginning of ...
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
With double-digit growth in unit sales (+17.6%), Mercedes-Benz set a new best mark in August, achieving the 30th record month in succession. For one year, the brand has been recording a double-digit growth rate every month. In total, 139,802 vehicles of Mercedes-Benz were delivered in August. Since the beginning of the year, 1,187,980 customers have received their new car (+15.1%).
Ola Källenius, member of the board of management of Daimler AG, responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars marketing & sales said, “Our strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region made a key contribution to the good unit sales of Mercedes-Benz in August. Development of demand for the GLA is especially positive.”
“After 44 years, an icon is returning in the shape of the S-Class Cabriolet at the Frankfurt Motor Show. It embodies the core of our brand in a perfect way and will give us further impetus along our growth path together with the other new products,” added Källenius.
In Europe, 507,772 vehicles with the three-pointed star have been handed over to customers since the beginning of the year. Unit sales increased by 11.2% compared with the same period last year. In Germany, sales in the past eight months rose by 5.9% to 177,606 units. In August, the three-pointed star brand sold 21,037 vehicles in the home market (+4.9%), thus defending its market leadership amongst the premium manufacturers. Particularly high growth rates were recorded in Portugal (+47.7%) and in the Netherlands (+31.3%). The German carmaker is also the market leader amongst the premium manufacturers in Spain (+28.9%).
In the NAFTA region, a total of 32,597 vehicles were sold in August (+6.8%), 28,373 of them in the United States (+4.8%). Sales records were achieved in all three NAFTA countries last month. In Canada, unit sales increased by 30.5%, allowing Mercedes-Benz to continue its market leadership amongst the premium brands.
In the Asia-Pacific region, sales rose by 34% to a new record of 51,307 units last month. Contributions to this strong growth came not only from China, but also from South Korea (+13.9%), Australia (+28.3%), and India (+18.9%), which all posted sales records in August. In China, a total of 32,763 vehicles from Mercedes-Benz were handed over to customers, 53.1% more than in August of the previous year. The localisation strategy of Mercedes-Benz in China bears fruits. The locally produced GLA and C-Class Saloon were especially successful in August. In Japan and Australia, Mercedes-Benz continues to be the market leader amongst the premium importers.
Also, sales of the compact cars from Mercedes-Benz increased by 35.2% in August. A total of 44,648 customers received their new A- or B-Class, their new GLA, CLA or CLA Shooting Brake last month – more than ever before. In China, sales of the compact cars tripled in August. The new generation of the A-Class will be presented to a large public for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
The C-Class Saloon and Estate posted their next sales record in August, with an increase of 81.3% to 35,555 units sold. The two models will soon be joined by the new C-Class Coupé, which celebrates its world premiere in September. The SUVs from Mercedes-Benz continued to enjoy great popularity last month. Sales of these models increased by 24.1% to 40,420 units, with the GLA as the top-seller.