Mercedes-Benz Australia Deliver a Record 23,106 Vehicles in 2013

MULGRAVE, AUSTRALIA – Jan 6, 2014: The release of the full year VFACTS for 2013 has confirmed Mercedes-Benz Australia as the most successful luxury automotive brand in Australian automotive history. With 23,106 sales Mercedes-Benz customers voted with their wallets to set a new high water mark in luxury vehicle sales for the brand in its official 55 year history in Australia.

In the Small > $40K segment, the all new A-Class and B-Class both outsold their competitors individually and level pegged to both secure a market share in excess of 19% each. Only ongoing supply issues with the A-Class prevented it from outselling the B-Class in 2013.

The hotly contested Medium > $60K segment saw the C-Class victorious in the segment again in 2013, with a market share in excess of 31%. This feat has been achieved in every full year since its launch. Despite aggressive competitors, the C-Class has sold more than 40,000 units since its launch making it the most successful luxury car in Australian motoring history. The recently introduced CLA-Class had a strong debut with 678 delivered by the end of the year, a 3.5% market share.

The new generation E-Class increased its sales in 2013 by more than 40%, despite a segment growth of just 15%. The CLS-Class increased its segment sales by 51% in 2013, also outstripping the 15% segment growth. The two vehicles combined delivered another segment win and a market share of more than 35%, making them by far the large car of preference for large luxury car buyers.

The Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars, Mr Horst von Sanden, who was in December 2013 appointed to the additional role of CEO of Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific, (following the retirement of CEO and President Juergen Sauer) said:

“We have had a huge year with our new model offensive. With close to 30% growth in comparison to 2012, our full year result of 23,106 units is a new record for our brand’s 55 year history in Australia. We became the first luxury brand to pass 20,000 units a year in November 2013.

We had an outstanding AMG result in 2013 with a record 1649 units delivered to our customers. This comprised 7% of total Mercedes-Benz vehicle sales and cements our market as one of the most important and successful for AMG in the world.

I want to thank our customers who, through our Dealer partners, delivered the best ever result in our 55 year official history in Australia. The combined efforts of our Dealer partners and our staff have placed us in a very strong position for 2014 and they should all feel very proud of what they have achieved,” concluded Mr von Sanden.

The all new S-Class had a strong debut in December with a 30% market share and despite a stock shortage during the run-out campaign of the previous model, the S-Class finished an assertive third for the full year. With very strong forward orders the S-Class will be fighting hard for this segment in 2014.

The unique to the Australian market Valente showed year on year growth in excess of 50%, to deliver a never seen before share of segment of 4%. The luxury Viano also increased its sales in 2013 and they combined - deliver almost 600 sales in 2013.

The lack of supply of M-Class didn’t stop it building on its 2013 sales by 4%. The GL-Class had a stellar year in 2013, with an increase in sales of 84% in the SUV Upper Large > $100K segment. When combined with the iconic G-Class, these two very different SUV’s secured an almost 60% share of segment.

The SL-Class is the longest running passenger car nameplate both in the world and also for Mercedes-Benz, and in 2013 it increased its sales by 150% in the rarefied Sports > $200K segment.

General Manger, Sales of Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars, Mr Richard Emery said:

“The all new A-Class has exceeded our expectations with buyer demand increasing far ahead of our ability to supply. The B-Class continued to be the quiet achiever with an almost 20% market share just outselling the A-Class.

The C-Class has re-written the record books with six full years of segment leadership and it was in fact the third best-selling medium car in the market regardless of segment in 2013. The C-Class was awarded the Wheels Car of The Year Award in 2007 and every year since, the C-Class remains the Car of The Year for luxury car buyers in Australia.

Though we are excited about our 2013 year end result, there was a point during the year we thought we’d see 25,000 vehicles delivered by the end of the year. Unfortunately supply issues held us back on a number of models, we expect this to improve during 2014.”