Mercedes-Benz is on a roll. After recording the best ever half-year sales in its history this year, the company has posted another record with best-ever July sales globally. Mercedes-Benz sold a total of 130,003 vehicles in July 2014, posting an increase of 11.3%. The Stuttgart-based manufacturer has solda a total of 913,523 units since the beginning of this year growing 12.6%.
“We are using the momentum of the past months and are starting into the second half of the year with a sales growth of 11.3%. Our sales numbers are developing very well worldwide, and particularly strongly in the European markets”, said Ola Källenius, Member of the Divisional Board Mercedes-Benz Cars responsible for Marketing & Sales. “Our new models of the compact family and our SUVs were real growth drivers.”
In Britain, Merc’s second largest market in Europe, the company achieved another record selling 8,330 vehicles with an increase of 11.1%. Spain and France also recorded strong increase in sales with a growth of 51.6% and 34.5% respectively. Europe’s overall sales figure grew 7.6% with 58,205 vehicles sold including 22,427 customers in Germany. With a 9.3% share of the domestic premium brand market, Mercedes-Benz is the most sold premium brand in Europe.
In USA, the largest market for the company, the sales numbers rose by 15.0% to 27,192 units in July posting another sales record.
The success story continues in the Asian market too. In July 2014, Mercedes-Benz delivered 20,871 units to its Chinese customers, 12.6% more than the same period of the previous year. In Japan, July sales grew by 13.5% while sales in South Korea jumped by 45.7%.
Mercedes-Benz’s compact car family consisting A-, B-, CLA- and GLA-Class models continues to be a growth driver, especially in the European markets. In July alone, these models accounted for a total of 37,579 vehicles in sales posting 30.5% growth.
Model wise analysis from the release:
After the successful start of the C-Class sedan, the new estate model is now also ready to order. It will come to market in September. It is an important model, particularly for the European markets: Almost half of all C-Classes here are estate models. In the future, the long-wheelbase version of the C-Class will be of central importance in China. The first C-Classes with an extended wheelbase began to roll off the line at the Beijing plant a few days ago. The market launch of the new C-Class in China will also be in September.
The long-wheelbase version of the E-Class has been available in China since 2010. The new generation has been on the market for one year. July sales of the E-Class in China totaled more than 4,500; more than twice as many as in the previous year’s period. Worldwide, 19,015 sedans of the E-Class were sold in July (+9.7%).
Mercedes-Benz continues to build up its leading position in the luxury segment. With 8,548 S-Class sedans sold, unit sales more than doubled in July (+114.9%).
The SUVs also continue to post growing sales numbers. July sales of the vehicles in the segment were 10.3% higher than in July of last year. The demand for the GLK (+22.1%) was particularly strong.
The city runabout smart fortwo was chosen by 7,508 customers in July (py. 7,679). Particularly successful was the smart in the United States, where more vehicles were sold than ever before. With the market launch of the new smart fortwo and smart forfour on November 22, 2014, smart will again offer the possibility of choosing between a two seater and a four seater. The two models carry on the established concept for modern urban mobility, but offer more space and additional equipment possibilities.
Source : CarDekho
