MOTORING NEWS SUVs performing well for Mercedes
ONE in three Mercedes-Benz models sold last year was an SUV.
Its range is being refreshed and that’s reaping benefits as deliveries have increased each month since August, led by the GLC.
Last year, the G-Class was able to improve on its record sales of 2017 by more than 13,000 units: 34,912 delivered vehicles resulted in a strong sales increase of more than 60 per cent.
The previous sales record set in 2017 was already surpassed in August 2019.
Every fourth MercedesBenz sold was a compact car more than 667,000 units of the A and B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake, GLA and GLB were delivered last year (+9.5 per cent). This represents an increase of more than 30,000 unit sales when compared to the prior record established in 2016. The new A-Class posted global growth of 12.3 per cent in 2019.
The A-Class Saloon and the new B-Class as well as the new CLA Coupe made significant contributions to the segment’s growth.
Approximately 392,900 units of the C-Class Saloon and Estate were delivered in globally in 2019 and further up-market, more than 351,000 units of the E-Class Saloon and Estate were delivered to customers in the third full year of sales. The S-Class was the best-selling luxury saloon in the world last year. Six years after the launch of the current generation of the S-Class sales of about 71,700 units in 2019 remained at a high level.
At Mercedes-Benz, all roadsters, convertibles and coupes are grouped under the heading Dream Cars.
More than 163,600 of these vehicles were delivered worldwide in 2019.
The main markets of the roadsters, convertibles and coupés with the three-pointed star were the USA, and Germany, followed by Great Britain last year. The growth in people movers around the world has seen V-Class hit a new record of 63,500 units, a 1.2 per cent rise over the last 12 months.
The desire for quality executive transport accounts for the bulk of this among environmentally concerned businesses.
Another growth sector is that of pick-ups and the Mercedes-Benz
X-Class has benefitted with 15,300 delivered with sales led by Germany and Britain.
Performance still counts with Mercedes-AMG hitting the highest unit sales in its history. The high-performance and sports-car brand Mercedes-AMG achieved a new record year in 2019 with more than 132,136 units sold and double-digit growth of 11.8 per cent. The Affalterbach-based company achieved its highest sales figures in history also in Great Britain and Japan.
Mercedes-AMG’s largest markets in 2019 were the USA, Germany and Great Britain, followed by China and Japan
The past year at MercedesAMG was marked by the continuous expansion and renewal of the product portfolio. No-one can overlook the rebirth of the Smart stable now blending traditional internal combustion engined models with pure electric power as emissions legislation tightens and more countries and local councils seriously consider ultra-low emission zones. Smart has rolled out this year its two and four-seater models for the coming decade.