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Nearly 600 000 cars sold: Mercedes reflects on its "strongest ever" vehicle sales

Mercedes-Benz can look back on its strongest-selling quarter in the companies’ history.

From April to June 2018, 594 528 customers received new Mercedes-Benz cars (+1.9%).

The automaker sold more vehicles than ever before in a half-year; Since the beginning of the year, 1 188 832 cars with the three-pointed star were delivered to customers all over the world. Unit sales were thus 3.9% higher than in the previous highest first half-year in 2017.

Sales affected by fire in the US

In the first six months, Mercedes-Benz was the premium brand with the most new registrations in several markets, including Germany, France, Russia, Switzerland, Portugal, South Korea, Australia, the USA and Canada.

READ: Next-gen, locally-built C-Class: President Cyril Ramaphosa applauds nearly R10-billion investment by Mercedes-Benz SA

With 203 783 vehicles sold, June was the month with the second highest sales since the beginning of the year (-2.6%). Figures of last month were affected amongst other things by a fire at a United States supplier.

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This meant a significant lower production of the SUVs for the world market at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa and sales were less than planned.

"Thanks to an outstanding team performance, we can look back on the most successful half-year in the history of Mercedes-Benz: with more than 1.18 million cars sold in the first six months, we have laid a good foundation for a successful year 2018," stated Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales.

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"The new A-Class has had a very successful reception from the markets and we will launch the new C-Class in July. These two volume models will make a significant contribution to the sales success of Mercedes-Benz in the second half of the year."

Mercedes-Benz unit sales by region and market

In Europe, Mercedes-Benz sold 476 790 cars in the first half of the year (-1.5%), which is slightly less than in the previous, so far best, first half-year in 2017.

Approximately one third of those cars were sold in Germany, where more than 150 000 customers were able to receive their new Mercedes-Benz (-0.2%). In France, Spain, Sweden, Poland and Denmark, more cars with the three-pointed star were sold than ever before in the first six months of a year.

Mercedes-Benz completed the first half of the year in the Asia-Pacific region with new best-ever sales, which increased by a double-digit 12.5% to 493 358 units.

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The biggest contribution to this growth came from China, where 340 164 cars with the three-pointed star were sold in the first six months, an increase of 16.2%. More cars of Mercedes-Benz than ever before in the first half-year were also sold in the markets of South Korea, Japan, India, Thailand and Malaysia.

In the NAFTA region, 191 249 Mercedes-Benz vehicles were handed over to customers in the period of January to June (-1.1%). Sales of 158 848 units in the USA were 1.9% below the very high prior-year figure. In Canada and Mexico, Mercedes-Benz set new sales records in the first six months of the year.

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