Mercedes-Benz clocks highest ever February sales globally

Riding on a strong demand wave courtesy a robust new model line-up, Stuttgart-based luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz sold 133,752 vehicles in February, its highest ever for the month with a YoY growth of 11.2%.

The German carmaker posted record sales in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the NAFTA region last month. Mercedes-Benz said that during the month it was the premium-market leader in Japan, Australia, Canada and Taiwan, and posted its highest monthly unit sales to date for both SUVs and compact cars.

Ola Kallenius, member of the board of management at Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales said: “Mercedes-Benz continued its successful path in February, with major contributions from the SUVs and the compact cars. In February, we also sold the 100,000th C-Class saloon with the long-wheelbase version, which is available only in China.”

With a stellar performance in the first two months of 2016, Mercedes-Benz is hot on the heels of its German peer BMW, in the race to become the biggest luxury car brand in 2016.

With sales of 1,871,511 vehicles (+13.4%) in 2015, and fifth record year in a row, Mercedes-Benz snatched the second spot from Audi last year. BMW had maintained its top spot in 2015 with sales 1,905,234 vehicles 5.2% YoY growth.

Although BMW is yet to disclose its global sales for February, the carmaker has reported a 10.7% decline in sales in the US. 

Region and market-wise sales
The European market expanded by 14.5% in February, with total deliveries of 57,901 vehicles and sales in Germany stood at 20,751 units (+18.6%). In February, more vehicles than ever before were delivered to customers in Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and Portugal.

Sales in the Asia-Pacific region continued to grow for with deliveries of 44,918 units in February (+18.2%). In China, sales in the second month of the year increased by 29.3% to a new high of 25,837 vehicles. Mercedes-Benz achieved record unit sales also in Japan, South Korea and Australia.

The NAFTA region was the slowest in terms of absolute growth, and sales increased by a mere 0.4% to a total of 26,852 vehicles in February. Of that total, 22,941 Mercedes-Benz vehicles were sold to customers in the US.

Nevertheless, a new sales record was set in Canada and Mexico. In Canada, Mercedes-Benz maintained its position as the market leader amongst the premium manufacturers in February.

Model-wise sales
Worldwide unit sales of compact cars for Mercedes-Benz in February grew 22.3% YoY. There were a total of 42,986 deliveries of cars in the segment including the likes of A- or B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake or GLA. The Mercedes-Benz compact cars were especially popular in the first two months of the year in China, where unit sales quadrupled.

Worldwide, a total of 28,146 C-Class saloons and estates were handed sold in February. The long-wheelbase version of the C-Class saloon, which is only available in China, remained popular. Since its market launch in mid-2014, more than 100,000 units of this model have been sold.

Sales of the E-Class remained high shortly before the model change; in February, the E-Class saloon and estate were among the best-selling models for the carmaker. The new-generation E-class was unveiled for the first time in Europe at the Geneva Motor Show this week.

Demand for Mercedes-Benz SUVs also continued to grow. Nearly 100,000 SUVs were sold in the first two months of the year with deliveries of 45,676 SUVs in February with YoY growth of 48.5%.