Mercedes-Benz Sets a New Record for Retail Sales

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Australian sales of Mercedes-Benz cars hit an all-time high in June with a new single-month record of 1,768 retail deliveries to customers.

The result sets a new national sales benchmark for the German car maker and was brought about by a combination of investment incentives, strong consumer confidence and solid retail encouragement. Together, these factors also contributed to the Australian new vehicle market’s third-best monthly sales result, as reported by VFACTS.

“With the market up a substantial 36 percent over May it was obvious that some new records would be set in June,” said the Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars in Australia, Mr Horst von Sanden.

“The investment allowance has obviously had an impact and combined with sustained buyer confidence and our own retail encouragement measures we saw Mercedes-Benz Cars set an all time record of 1,768 retail sales in June.

“Every single one of these 1,768 cars is now sitting in a proud owner’s driveway and our biggest challenge for July is providing enough vehicle stock to maintain the pace,” he said.

“Our ‘Lets Talk’ marketing campaign has been a huge success for our brand and we have actually run out of wholesale stock of both E-Class sedan and the CLK-Class coupé perhaps a little earlier than we would have liked.”

“Year-to-date the E-Class platform has secured more than one in three buyers in its segment which is a significant achievement in a very tough market. These classic models have been literally snapped up by buyers who have both embraced our Customer First philosophy and voted with their cheque books,” said von Sanden.

But it wasn’t just E-Class and CLK-Class ranges that experienced a stock sell-out.

“The M-Class luxury SUV recorded its best sales result for more than twelve months and the 2007 Wheels Car of The Year, the C-Class, continues its winning ways. It still holds a commanding one-third share of its segment year-to-date, even two years after its market release”, said von Sanden.

“We are currently preparing for the local launch of the all-new E-Class sedan and coupé, both of which are due in our showrooms in the first week of August. We are already seeing a level of retail orders and customer enquiry that is very solid and encouraging.

“With further product initiatives through to the end of the year we feel confident that our total annual sales result will be up on 2008,” concluded von Sanden.