The carmaker sold 694,433 vehicles in the first six months of the year, up 6.4%. The growth in the first six months of the year was driven primarily by the stable gains in many European markets and the USA. Mercedes-Benz posted a strong first half in the BRIC states as well. In addition, the brand with the star maintained market leadership in Germany, the USA and Japan and managed to gain further market shares in nearly all Western European markets.

With 131,609 units sold, sales in June also reached record level (+8.3%), not least through strong growth in China (+16.0%).

‘The first half of 2013 went very well for Mercedes-Benz. We continued to grow in many markets and were able to post a new record’, said Dr. Joachim Schmidt, executive vice president sales and marketing Mercedes-Benz Cars. ‘We also want to continue to grow in the second half. In particular, the new E-Class, S-Class and our new compact cars will provide perceptible momentum as they become available in increasingly more markets in the coming months.’

Mercedes-Benz performed very well in the volatile market environment of Europe with sales of 327,988 vehicles in the first half of the year (+4.2%). The brand won market shares in many markets in June as well. Since the beginning of the year the company posted particularly strong sales growth in UK (+15.0%), Belgium (+19.6%), Russia (+19.9%) and Turkey (+75.1%). In Germany, Mercedes-Benz delivered 124,324 vehicles to customers (-3.3%) in the first half, outperforming the declining overall market (-8.1%).

The last six months developed particularly satisfactorily in the USA where sales of 141,950 units were up 10.4%. The brand also posted strong increases in Latin America, and grew sales in Brazil by 51.7% and in Argentina by 95.1%.

In the Asia/Pacific region, Mercedes-Benz posted stable growth in the first half (+6.7%), due in particular to sales in Japan (+26.5%) and India (+16.4%). The brand’s sales are also developing very strongly in China (incl. Hong Kong), where Mercedes-Benz posted a double-digit growth in June (+16.0%) and achieved sales of 19,549 vehicles. Since the beginning of the year 98,914 cars have been delivered to customers.