Mercedes-Benz notches record sales in October
Ryan Joseph Ramos November 7, 2014What a way to kick off the fourth quarter for what is turning out to be a strong 2014 for Mercedes-Benz. The German automaker sold 140,941 vehicles in October, making it the best-selling October in the company’s history. In addition, that figure marks an 11.5 percent increase compared to the previous month.
Year-to-date figures are also up, with the total now at 1,336,097, which accounts for a 12.4 percent improvement over the total units sold during the first ten months of 2013.
The compact segment continued to drive Mercedes-Benz sales worldwide, with year-to-date totals of 375,435 units sold between the A-Class, B-Class, CLA-Class, and GLA-Class. That’s a 23.7 percent increase over the same period last year, but then the company didn’t really have the full-blown compact-car focus compared to what it has today.
C-Class sales rose 40 percent compared to October 2013, while the M-Class saw a 13.4 percent spike. The E-Class continues to post great numbers, with a record year-to-date figure so far that stands at a 9.2 percent increase.
The October figures were made possible by 60,632 units sold overall in Europe, a 9.8 percent increase. There were a few key growth markets in the continent: Spain grew by 56.3 percent, Switzerland numbers went up 19.5 percent, and Belgium rose 12.4 percent.
In the Asia-Pacific region, a number of markets also saw significant growth, not the least of which is China. With 23,150 units sold in the world’s largest automotive market, which is a 33.4 percent improvement over September figures. The company also took a sales record in Japan thanks to a 10.6 percent increase for October. It remains the leading automotive importer in the country.
October also accounted for the best-selling month in 2014 for Mercedes-Benz in the NAFTA region, with a total of 28,593 units sold. Year on year, the NAFTA numbers also rose by 6.8 percent, with a year-to-date total of 261,804 units sold in the region. However, numbers are down compared to October 2013 (-4.9%) because of ‘unusually high unit sales’ during that month last year.
