The recovery of worldwide retail passenger car sales by Mercedes-Benz continued in the third quarter despite ongoing challenging conditions. Global sales of 613,770 passenger cars in the period of July to September were higher than in the prior-year quarter for the first time this year (+3.9%) due to the positive development in China and rising customer demand in many other markets.
In order to meet the high level of customer demand at short notice, dealership inventories were reduced worldwide. China continued to be the main driver of passenger car sales as the market continued its rapid recovery in the third quarter (+23.4%). In Germany, sales in the past three months were higher than in the prior-year quarter for the first time this year (+4.0%).
Mercedes-Benz sold 1,548,859 premium and luxury vehicles worldwide in the first three quarters of the year (-10.2%). Smart sales were off 74.9% to 22,006 due to the change to pure EVs.
Van sales increased 11.2% in the third quarter, particularly due to positive developments in China and Europe. In total, 95,933 units of the Sprinter, Vito, Vito Tourer and Citan were sold in the third quarter.
In the Europe region, Mercedes-Benz delivered 547,578 passenger cars in the period of January to September (-20.9%), while unit sales in the third quarter were almost on the prior-year level due to rising demand in many European markets (-0.4%).
Asia-Pacific region sales were up 2.1% to 746,603. Third quarter China sales rose 23.4% to 223,631 units.
North America region sales in the first nine months of the year were down 13.9% to 228,397 units. United States Q3 sales fell 9.4% to 69,631.