Mercedes-Benz is once again laying claim to the title of the best-selling premium automotive brand in the world.
In 2017, the German luxury car manufacturer posted its most successful year of sales in its long history, increasing its unit sales by 9.9% to 2,289,344 vehicles.
“Last year, Mercedes-Benz Cars delivered more than 2.4 million Mercedes-Benz and smart to customers all over the world,” said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
“We thus surpassed our prior-year unit sales for the seventh time in succession. With Mercedes-Benz, our core brand, we were the best-selling premium brand once again in 2017. We can be proud of that achievement – and we will build on it. Success in our core business provides the basis for us to actively shape the mobility of the future.”
(New vehicle sales in the U.S. sputter in December. Click Herefor the story.)
As a result of its success in all three core regions – Europe, Asia-Pacific and NAFTA – Mercedes-Benz was the best-selling premium brand in the automobile industry for the second consecutive year. No other German automobile brand in the premium segment posted as strong growth as the Stuttgart-based company with the three-pointed star in 2017, Zetsche added.
The car division’s growth last year was driven in particular by the new E-Class Saloon and Estate and the sport utility vehicles, he added.
Mercedes-Benz is also focusing on four areas critical to the future of automotive industry with its corporate strategy CASE, which stands for Connected, Autonomous, Shared & Services and Electric.
The optimal combination of these four areas will be a crucial success factor for offering customers the most convincing overall package. Mercedes-Benz finished up 2017 with the best fourth quarter in its history and record sales in December.
During 2017, Mercedes-Benz also was the premium brand with the most new registrations in many markets, and was the market leader in markets including Germany, Great Britain, France, Turkey, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, South Korea, Japan, Austalia, Taiwan, India, the USA, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
(Click Here for the first look at the new Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen.)
“The 58th consecutive record month to close the year underscores our customers’ trust in the first-class products from Mercedes-Benz. In 2017, we delivered approximately 2.3 million new vehicles with the three-pointed star, allowing us to further extend our lead in the premium segment by a significant margin,” said Britta Seeger, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales.
“Also in the new year, we will have the right car available for every customer. Overall, we will launch more than a dozen new models in 2018.”
China was once again the company’s biggest sales market, not only in the Asia-Pacific region, but also worldwide: 587,868 Mercedes-Benz automobiles were handed over to customers there last year. The increase of more than 25.9% helped Mercedes-Benz to post a new sales record in China.
In 2017, more than a quarter of all Mercedes-Benz automobiles sold were compact cars. In the year before the major A-Class model change, more than 620,000 customers worldwide took delivery of their new A- or B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake or GLA.
(Mercedes taking new “user experience” to CES. For the story, Click Here.)
Mercedes-Benz moved into first place in both the U.S. and global luxury-auto sales race in 2016. It also was the first time since 2004 that Mercedes outsold the BMW brand globally, the fruit of heavy recent investment, a revamped line-up and shake up of its China business. Audi finished third.
