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Merc's A-Class orders skyrocket

BERLIN - Germany's Daimler has almost 90 000 orders for the revamped A-Class compact of its Mercedes-Benz luxury division, Die Zeit reported, citing chief executive Dieter Zetsche.

That would compare with advance orders of more than 40 000 for Volkswagen's all-new Golf hatchback, which is vying for customers with the A-Class in the competitive compact segment.

The Golf 7 will be launched in South Africa in February, 2013 and the A-Class will be here by April, 2013, company representatives said.

MERCEDES MONEY

The Stuttgart, Germany-based Mercedes will increase global auto sales by 5% in 2012 from 2011's record of 1.28 million, the CEO said in an interview published by the weekly newspaper on Wednesday, November 14, 2012.

The automaker aims to double deliveries of Mercedes and Smart vehicles to about 2.6 million by 2020 - the year it wants to reclaim the luxury sales crown and surpass rivals BMW and Volkswagen's Audi, the CEO said.

Zetsche said Daimler plans "no active job reductions" even though it's targeting the Rand equivalent of R22.6-billion in cost cuts at the Mercedes division by the end of 2014.

Daimler warned in October 2012 it would miss its earnings forecast for the year by an equivalent of about R11.3-billion and wouldn't improve margins in 2013.
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