- Strong growth against general market trend: 327,600 new registrations of pre-owned Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in Germany through July

- Market share in Germany increases from eight to ten percent

Demand for pre-owned Mercedes-Benz vehicles has never been as high as in 2006. Despite falling sales in both the overall market and the premium market in Germany, Mercedes-Benz recorded significant growth rates in the period January to July 2006. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), a total of 327,600 pre-owned Mercedes-Benz cars were registered with new owners during this period, five percent more than in the first seven months of 2005. The market share in Germany thus increased significantly, rising from eight percent to ten percent. Growth in demand for pre-owned Mercedes-Benz passenger cars has also surpassed average market growth in France and Italy.

Demand is particularly high for "young pre-owned" Mercedes-Benz cars, which are on average one year old. In the first eight months of 2006, sales of these vehicles rose by 30 percent to around 90,000 vehicles. In August, unit sales increased by 38 percent to about 11,000 models. The most important sales market is Germany, followed by Italy and Spain. Dr. Klaus Maier, Executive Vice President Mercedes Car Group, responsible for Sales and Marketing: "Both record sales of our new cars in the first eight months of 2006 and the record demand for our pre-owned cars provide clear evidence of the high appeal of our current model range."

The continuing high residual values for all model series are a key reason for the higher-than-average demand for pre-owned Mercedes-Benz cars. For example, Mercedes-Benz is the clear frontrunner in nine of twelve residual value comparisons published by Baehr & Fess, one of the leading providers of residual value forecasts. Dieter Fess of Baehr Fess: "The success of Mercedes-Benz young pre-owned cars continues to be based on the high appeal of the vehicles with regard to their consistently very good residual values. It also underlines the excellent brand image of Mercedes-Benz."