Strong demand in China drives Mercedes-Benz’s double-digit sales growth in October

Mercedes-Benz started the fourth quarter of the calendar year with an 11.5% increase in sales to 173,096 vehicles in October and 1,711,017 vehicles in the first 10 months of the year (+11.7%).

This means that the Stuttgart-based carmaker posted its best-ever figures in October and in the first 10 months of this year. Last month, Mercedes-Benz was the market leader among the premium manufacturers in Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan and the USA.

Ola Källenius, member of the board of management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales commented: “ Mercedes-Benz made a successful start to the fourth quarter with double-digit growth and the 44th consecutive record month. And with more than 387,000 vehicles sold in China since the beginning of the year, we have already surpassed the total unit sales of full-year 2015.”

Sales by region

Last month, sales in Europe rose to 71,635 units, an increase of 9.6% and the highest number ever sold in an October. In Germany, the domestic market, approximately 24,000 vehicles with the three-pointed star were sold, marginally down compared to the same month last year. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Mercedes-Benz achieved especially strong growth of more than 20% in France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland.

Sales of 63,771 Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the Asia-Pacific region represent substantial growth of 23.8% compared with the previous best October unit sales achieved last year. In China, the biggest single market, strong demand for automobiles with the three-pointed star led to sales growth in the period of January to October of 29.3% to 387,015 units. This means that Mercedes-Benz had already surpassed its sales of full-year 2015 by the end of last month.

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In the NAFTA region, 32,906 customers received their new car with the star in October, down 1.2% YoY. In the USA, Mercedes-Benz sold 28,659 units, down 1% YoY. In Mexico, demand reached a new high – never before had so many vehicles of Mercedes-Benz been handed over to customers in an October.

Sales by model

In the first 10 months of the year, more than half a million A- or B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake or GLA models were sold worldwide (529,127 units, +10.8%). In the year of the E-Class, 25,136 units of the Saloon and Estate were delivered worldwide last month (+34.6%). The new E-Class Estate was successfully launched in Europe, its strongest-selling region, in October.

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class Saloon has continued to be the world’s best-selling luxury saloon since the beginning of the year. Demand for the Mercedes-Benz flagship was particularly high in China last month.

smart

The smart brand sold 11,510 cars worldwide in October (+9.4%). The smart fortwo and forfour were especially popular in China, where unit sales more than doubled to reach a new record in October.

Also read: Mercedes-Benz posts hat-trick of global sales records in September