Record Success: Best Ever First Half-Year For Mercedes-Benz UK

MILTON KEYNES, UNITED KINGDOM – July 5, 2013: Record success was spread across the range in June, as a diverse line-up of Mercedes-Benz models led their respective market segments, according to registration figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

New records were set as Mercedes-Benz UK achieved its best ever Q2 results, with 25,470 vehicles registered – leading to a record market share of 4.6 per cent for the year-to-date.

The C-Class Coupé, E-Class Coupé and Saloon, the CLS-Class and SL-Class all saw significant gains in June. Registrations of the SL-Class rose by 196.4 per cent to lead its highly competitive segment with a 36.8 per cent share.

In total, 9,469 cars were registered by Mercedes-Benz in June – contributing to an overall rise of 14.8 per cent for the year-to-date.

The sustained popularity of the B-Class continued, seeing a 41.7 per cent gain in registrations compared to the same time last year. Likewise, the A-Class had its most successful month since being introduced to the UK market in January. A total of 1,459 examples were registered in June, capturing 9.5 per cent of its market segment.

Performance brand, AMG, remained the fastest-growing performance brand in the UK, posting a rise of 51.1 per cent with the E 63 AMG Saloon emerging as one of the key contributors to the gain, achieving a 181.8 per cent rise in registrations. In total, 1,486 cars from AMG have been registered in 2013 – the first time such a figure has been reached so early in the year.

The regular E-Class has had its most successful year yet, with 14,140 examples registered to date, a rise of six per cent.

Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles posted strong results in June. The Citan van had its best month yet with over 200 examples being registered. Further up the scale, the Actros posted a rise of 62.7 per cent, registrations of the Econic rose by 53.1 per cent and the Axor by 127.7 per cent.

Marcus Breitschwerdt, President and CEO Mercedes-Benz UK, commented: ‘Strong individual performances by key models across our passenger car and commercial vehicle operations, such as the Citan van, the new E-Class Saloon and the Actros as well as the continued great gains by AMG gave us a record performance in June and in the second quarter of the year. As we introduce the full range of A-Class models, build up volume on the CLA-Class and we look ahead to the arrival of the new S-Class later in the year, our diversity of products allows us to set new benchmarks and post a significant year-on-year gain and out-perform the market once again.

‘It’s been an exciting and busy first half to the year; since January, the Mercedes-Benz UK website has had over 1.2 million visits every month and, in May alone, nearly 50,000 eBrochure downloads took place – a new record. Our customer satisfaction scores have been very strong among our existing owners while at the same time the majority of those enquiring about the A-Class, introduced in January, have been new to Mercedes-Benz. And it’s not just new cars - used cars have benefited too, with a 51 per cent increase in searches on our online used car locator.

‘You don’t just need to take our word for it either – the A-Class was announced as the Best New Car at the Fleet World Honours – at the same time we were announced as the Most Improved Fleet Manufacturer, an award reflecting the significant growth we’ve seen in our fleet volumes.

Along with my colleagues at Mercedes-Benz UK and throughout the Retailer network, I will be working hard to sustain and build on this great momentum as we look forward to a successful second half to the year.’