Mercedes Benz sales and marketing chief Joachim Schmidt is confident the brand can achive record sales worldwide this year.
He said: “Our goal is to surpass the sales record set in 2007 and achieve the best year in the company’s history.”
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The company has got off to a good start posting increases in all regions in January including high growth in the three major markets of Germany, US and China, as well as in the other BRIC countries.
Worldwide sales were up 23% to 82,700 deliveries, up from 67,000 in January 2010.
Schmidt said: “January was a great month for Mercedes-Benz, and it marks an outstanding start to the new year. We were able to post the best January sales result ever and continue the positive development of the preceding months.”
He expects further sales momentum through the launch of numerous new products in 2011. The redesigned CLS was at dealers on 10 January and a new SLK follows in spring with an updated C-class, new C-Class coupe in summer and new M- and B-Class at the end of the year.
Market share in Germany rose last month with deliveries up 20% to 11,100 units. In western Europe, sales totalled 32,400 passenger cars, an increase of 18%, with increases recorded in the UK, up 59%, France, 6% and Belgium 25%.
In China the brand sold a record 15,600 units, an increase of 87% from January 2010’s 8,300 units.
January sales also increased in Japan, +4%, Australia, up 21%, and Turkey 55% Records were also set in the BRIC nations India (+ 14%) and Russia (+41%) while sales in Brazil rose 60%.
In the US, car sales rose 11% to 16,400 units, up from 14,700 in January 2010.
The facelifted Smart Fortwo was also very successful in January with 6,700 sales worldwide, up 20% from January last year, largely due to high growth rates in China, Germany and the US.
