Mercedes-Benz sells 198,187 units worldwide in May, up 2.3%

Mercedes-Benz has sold a total of 198,187 cars (+2.3%) in May 2018. The German carmaker states that it has achieved its best-ever unit sales for the 63rd month in succession. In the first five months of this year, 985,063 units were sold, which is 5.4 percent more than in the prior-year period.

Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars marketing and sales, said,“ This May, we delivered more than 198,000 vehicles, which is more than in any May before. Nearly 350,000 SUVs were sold since the beginning of the year, which is an incredible result; never before have we delivered so many SUVs to our customers in the first five months of a year. We are especially looking forward to the launch of the new G-Class. With our offroad icon, we will continue the success story of the SUVs in June.”

Sales by region and market
In Europe, Mercedes-Benz sold 393,977 units in January to May period. The brand delivered 81,011 vehicles this May (-4.1%). In Germany, 125,817 cars were sold since the beginning of the year (+2.6%).

The company says it achieved its highest ever unit sales in the first five months and also in May in France, Spain, Sweden, Poland and Denmark. Unit sales in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 10.2% last month to a new high of 79,481 Mercedes-Benz cars delivered.

Since the beginning of the year, the brand achieved double-digit growth in the region with sales of 408,844 cars (+13.6%), thus setting a new record. Mercedes-Benz sold 56,066 units in the Chinese market.

In the NAFTA region, 32,614 customers took delivery of their new Mercedes-Benz cars in May (+0.9%) and 159,132 in the first five months (+0.4%). Sales in the USA totalled 26,976 vehicles in May (+0.3%) and were over the prior-year level as well. Mercedes-Benz has further stated that it has observed new sales records in the first five months in Canada (+1.8%) and Mexico (+7.1%) as well.

Model-wise sales
According to Mercedes-Benz, demand for its SUVs, especially the GLC, was once again very high last month. The company sold 69,340 SUVs in the month of May, which is more than 4.3 percent.

The company further claimed that a new sales record was also set for the first five months of the year: 349,119 customers decided in favour of an SUV with the three-pointed star in that period (+11.1%).  The production of the new G-Class in Graz, Austria, began last month. Sourcing from the company reports, more than 300,000 units have been handed over to customers since the launch of the first model of the G-Class in 1979. 

Mercedes-Benz E Class

Since the beginning of the year, 152,618 units of the E Class Saloon and the Estate were sold (+2.5%). Demand in the month of May was particularly strong for the long-wheelbase version of the E-Class, which is sold in China and India. Again, the company has claimed that a double-digit growth (23.5%) in sales of that model led to a new record. 

Mercedes-Benz sold 6,646 units of the S-class luxury saloon in May (+17.1%) and 36,314 units since January (+26.3%).

This May, the company delivered 11,609 units of the smart brand to customers (-4.9%). Sales in the first five months totalled 52,463 units (-8.5%). Daimler has confirmed that the changeover of the smart into a purely electric brand is going ahead at full speed.

Overview of sales 

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