SMM: although the situation continues to be grim, the global retail sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars continue to recover. In the third quarter of this year, due to the excellent performance of the Chinese market and growing customer demand in other markets, the Mercedes-Benz brand sold 613770 cars worldwide, an increase of 3.9% year-on-year and the first positive growth so far this year.
Further recovery in Mercedes-Benz commercial truck sales is also evident, with sales of 95933 Sprinter, Vito, Vito Tourer and Citan in the quarter, up 11.2 per cent from a year earlier, thanks to positive performance in China and Europe.
In the first nine months of this year, global sales of the Mercedes-Benz brand reached 1548859, down 10.2% from a year earlier, but the decline was shrinking. Due to the shift to pure electric models, global sales of the Smart brand are still lower than in the same period last year (down 74.9% from the same period last year), with 22006 two-door and four-door urban subcompact cars delivered to customers in the first nine months of this year. As a result, Mercedes-Benz and the Smart brand (Mercedes-Benz passenger cars) delivered a total of 1570865 vehicles, down 13.4% from a year earlier. Together with the commercial truck division's 221879 sales in the first three quarters, Mercedes-Benz passenger and commercial vehicles delivered nearly 1.8 million vehicles in the first nine months.
Regionally, China remains the main driver of Mercedes-Benz's global sales. In Europe, Mercedes-Benz sold 547578 passenger cars in the first three quarters, still down 20.9% from a year earlier, with Mercedes-Benz sales almost flat in the third quarter as demand in many European markets began to rise. In the Asia-Pacific region, Mercedes-Benz sold a total of 746603 vehicles in the first three quarters, up 2.1% from a year earlier, mainly due to Mercedes-Benz's good performance in the Chinese market (sales up 8.3% year-on-year), of which Mercedes-Benz sold 223631 cars in China in the third quarter. an increase of 23.4% year-on-year, surpassing the record set in the same period last year. In North America, Mercedes-Benz delivered a total of 228397 vehicles in the first three quarters, down 13.9% from a year earlier. In the US market, Mercedes-Benz sold 196838 vehicles, down 12.2% from a year earlier.
