Mercedes-Benz delivered 211,286 vehicles to customers in September (+12.1%), more than ever before in one month. This means that for Mercedes-Benz, the third quarter of this year is the quarter with the highest unit sales so far. In the three core regions of Europe, Asia-Pacific and NAFTA, new sales records were set for the month of September, the third quarter and the year to date. Unit sales of the SUVs and the E-Class were particularly strong last month. At smart, the anniversary of two million cars sold since 1998 was celebrated.
Stuttgart – Mercedes-Benz has managed the hat-trick: In September, in the third quarter and also in the first nine months of the year, the Stuttgart based company with the three-pointed star achieved three new records and is doing better than ever before. Last month, sales reached the all-time high of 211,286 vehicles (+12.1%), passing the mark of 200,000 units in one month for the first time. In the period of July to September, the bestselling quarter so far was achieved with sales of 531,302 units (+11.2%). Since the beginning of the year, sales by Mercedes-Benz have risen at a double-digit rate to a record number of more than 1.5 million vehicles (1,537,921 units, +11.7%). Last month, Mercedes-Benz was the market leader among the premium manufacturers in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan, USA, Canada and Mexico.
“In September, we scored a hat-trick – the best month with more than 200,000 units sold, the best quarter and the best first nine months of a year for Mercedes-Benz,” stated Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales. “We continued our product offensive in September with the E-Class Estate, the long-wheelbase version of the E-Class Saloon, the C-Class Cabrio and the GLC Coupé.”
Mercedes-Benz unit sales by region and market
Sales in Europe increased last month by 15% to 98,877 units – a new sales record in September. Growth in unit sales was particularly strong for the E-Class Saloon and the Mercedes-Benz dream cars. In Germany, the domestic market, 27,640 units were sold, which is 17.1% more automobiles with the three-pointed star than in the same month of last year. Mercedes-Benz continued to achieve sustained and double-digit growth in September in Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
Mercedes-Benz increased its sales in Asia-Pacific in September by 15.9% and delivered 72,670 vehicles to its customers, more than ever before in a September. Growth in unit sales was particularly strong in Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia, with double-digit rates. In China, strong demand for the vehicles with the three-pointed star in September led to a new high of 46,443 units sold (+20.1%); sales in China from January to September totalled 344,791 units (+29.5%), more than ever before in the first nine months of a year.
Sales by Mercedes-Benz in the NAFTA region reached a high of 34,488 units in September, an increase of 2.9% compared with the prior-year month. A new high was achieved also in the USA, where 29,500 vehicles with the three-pointed star were handed over to customers (+1.7%). In Mexico, Mercedes-Benz surpassed its previous best-ever September sales achieved in 2015 by almost 50%.
Mercedes-Benz unit sales by model
The new E-Class is extremely popular with customers: Sales of the E-Class Saloon and Estate rose to 27,955 units, which is 20.1% higher than in the prior-year month. Following the successful market launch of the E-Class Saloon, the Estate version is now available in Germany and the long-wheelbase version of the Saloon is in the dealerships’ showrooms in China. In addition, deliveries to customers of the E-Class Saloon as a plug-in hybrid started in September: The E 350 e (combined fuel consumption of 2.1 litres per 100 kilometres and combined CO2 emissions of 49 grams per kilometre) is the seventh plug-in hybrid model in the current Mercedes-Benz product portfolio.
Unit sales of SUVs by Mercedes-Benz in September were higher than the previous best figure recorded in the prior-year month. Worldwide, 68,197 customers took delivery of their new SUV (+26.8%). Sales in the first nine months of the year increased to 520,321 units (+42.2%) and were thus already at the level of full-year 2015. Since September, all of the “glorious seven” are available on the market: In addition to the GLA, GLC, GLE, GLE Coupé, GLS and G-Class, the new GLC Coupé is now also in the dealerships’ showrooms.
In the year of the dream cars, Mercedes-Benz increased its unit sales of those models by 32.8% in September. More than 15,000 coupés, roadsters and convertibles with the three-pointed star were handed over to their new owners. The youngest member of the open-air family is the first convertible on the basis of the C-Class, with deliveries starting last month.
smart
Last month, the smart brand celebrated a sales anniversary: Two million of the agile urban microcar have been delivered since it was launched in 1998. And the smart continued its popularity in September. A third more of the smart models were sold than in the same month of last year: 13,987 customers took delivery of their new smart fortwo or forfour (+36.5%). At the Paris Motor Show, the new generation of the smart electric drive had its world premiere, and will be available in the future as the fully electric fortwo, fortwo cabrio and forfour. smart will therefore be the only brand to offer its complete model range with gasoline engines as well as with electric motors.
