Mercedes-Benz: First Choice Pays Off

MULGRAVE, AUSTRALIA – Jun 3, 2010: Despite the challenges of some lingering economic uncertainty, interest rate rises and stock shortages the sales result for May was a very satisfying result said the Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Mr Horst Von Sanden.

“We have worked hard with our dealer partners and with head office in Stuttgart on our First Choice strategy. Across every model in the range we have responded to our customers with the standard equipment and option packages that they have told us they want and the result has been that they have voted with their wallets. To achieve three straight months of sales leadership is extremely satisfying and one that the entire team at Mercedes-Benz cars can feel enormous satisfaction with. We repositioned the B-Class earlier in the year and the sales results in May saw it lead the class and has cemented its position as third in its class YTD. With five months of 2010 gone we are within 30 units of the total sold in 2009. This is an outstanding result.

We have also worked hard on increasing the presence of the smart fortwo and in the first five months of 2010 we have sold more than half of the fortwo’s entire volume in 2009.

The award winning C-Class which received engine and equipment upgrades for 2010 with no price increase was chosen by one in three buyers in Mays sales. The C-Class Estate continues to win new converts with its dynamic handling, load versatility and design purity against serious competition both in and outside its segment.

The successful launch of the all new E-Class continues apace with the E-Class sedan and the CLS sedan holding a commanding 53.0% market share year to date in this fiercely competitive segment. When we launched the E-Class von Sanden said, we had high expectations but didn’t expect such a fantastic sales result. It is a little embarrassing as stock continues to be the biggest problem for us with the E-Class.

The hotly contested SUV Luxury segment has seen the GL-Class and ML-Class cement their growth with the ML leading the segment in May. The GL despite stock shortage has lifted its year to date sales as well.

In the Sport <$80K segment we have seen the CLC achieve a solid 2nd place in the segment. The E-Class Coupe/Cabriolet has year to date outsold its nearest competitor and along with the SLK300 we have seen Mercedes-Benz leading the segment with a share in excess of 29%.

In the >$100K Upper Large segment the S-Class has regained segment leadership year to date after a very solid month in May with more than one in three buyers choosing this bench mark vehicle.

And finally the SLS Gullwing notched up its fiftieth Australian order in May and we expect to sell seventy in 2010.