The company claims it to be a record that they crossed the 1.5 million sales figure so early in a year. It claims to have set sales records in India as well.
10 Sep 2018 | 6941 Views | By Autocar Professional Bureau
Mercedes-Benz delivered 1,512,268 vehicles to customers worldwide in the first eight months of this year, which the company claims is a new record with a 1.1 percentYoY growth. The company also claimed that it had never crossed the 1.5 million sales mark earlier in the year before. Mercedes-Benz sold ...
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Mercedes-Benz delivered 1,512,268 vehicles to customers worldwide in the first eight months of this year, which the company claims is a new record with a 1.1 percent YoY growth. The company also claimed that it had never crossed the 1.5 million sales mark earlier in the year before. Mercedes-Benz sold 155,918 (-8.5%) vehicles worldwide in August, the 30th consecutive month with global sales of more than 150,000 units due to the ongoing strong demand for cars with the three-pointed star.
However, there was an impact on unit sales in August from challenges relating to vehicle availability, including model changes and delays in vehicle certification in some markets. Nevertheless, Mercedes-Benz defended in the first eight months of the year its position as the best-selling premium brand worldwide.
Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars marketing and sales said, “With the EQC, we have presented the first fully-electric SUV of our EQ product and technology brand to the world public in Stockholm. We will set additional markers and impulses in the market with the EQC,” Seeger continued.
China drives Asian sales while Mexican sales shine in NAFTA
In Europe, Mercedes-Benz sold 54,989 vehicles in August (-10.7%). In the first eight months of the year, sales totalled 597,347 units (-3.9%). In Germany, the domestic market, Mercedes-Benz delivered 21,442 vehicles with the three-pointed star in August (-14.8%) and a total of 195,163 cars were handed over to customers in Germany in the first eight months of this year (-4.2%). In France, Spain, Sweden, Poland and Denmark, Mercedes-Benz claims that more cars with the star were sold in the first eight months than ever before in that period.
In the Asia-Pacific region, demand for Mercedes-Benz models in the first eight months of the year led to a new record of 639,184 units sold (+9.8%). Last month, the brand with the star delivered 72,342 vehicles in that region, which is just slightly below the prior-year level (-1.3%). In China, the biggest market, the company claims that a new high for an August was achieved with sales of 53,295 cars (+5.5%). So far this year, 446,075 vehicles have been handed over to customers – more than ever before in the first eight months of a year (+13.9%). Mercedes-Benz revealed that they achieved additional sales records for the first eight months also in Japan, India, Thailand and Malaysia.
In the NAFTA region, 24,538 vehicles with the three-pointed star were delivered to customers last month (-19.5%) and a total of 240,671 Mercedes-Benz cars were sold in the period of January to August (-5.5%). Mercedes-Benz delivered 199,215 vehicles in the USA in that period (-6.6%) and 20,339 in August (-19.8%). The brand with the star defended its market leadership in the US premium segment in the first eight months. Thanks to strong growth in Mexico, Mercedes-Benz once again achieved record unit sales in that market for an August and for the first eight months.
E-class and SUVs drive sales globally
The E-Class Saloon and Estate models are said to have set a new record with sales of 25,367 units last month (+0.4%). Since the market launch of the current models, more than 700,000 units have been sold.
Mercedes-Benz increased its sales of the S-Class Saloon in August by 30.3% to 5,254 units. From January to August, more than 53,000 units of the S-Class Saloon were sold (+26.6%). The company claims that due to a double-digit growth rate worldwide, the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class saloon achieved its highest unit sales so far in the first eight months of a year.
A new record was set by the SUVs in the first eight months of this year: Worldwide, a total of 541,120 SUVs with the star were delivered, an increase of 5.4%. An important driver of this growth was the global popularity of the GLC and GLC Coupés. The new EQC, with its world premiere in Stockholm as the first fully electric SUV from the EQ product and technology brand could further improve the sales figure of the mid-size SUVs from Mercedes-Benz.
8,470 customers took delivery of their new two- or four-door urban microcars from Smart in August (+9.8%) and a total of 85,534 units were sold in the period of January to August (-2.6%). Mercedes-Benz claims that they had never sold so many units of the electric smart models in an August or in the first eight months of a year as in 2018.