Mercedes-Benz claims that it was the best-selling premium brand in the world in 2017 (for the second consecutive year), despite BMW having not yet officially announced its sales figures for the 12-month period.
The Stuttgart-based brand says it registered its most successful year of all time in 2017, increasing sales by 9,9% to 2 289 344 vehicles. This growth, according to Mercedes, was driven by the new E-Class (350 000+ units) as well as the brand’s range of SUVs (805 000+ units). The C-Class, meanwhile, remained a strong volume driver, with more than 415 000 units (including the estate version) sold during the year.
In the first 11 months of 2017, the BMW brand reported sales of 1 892 365 units, which means it would have had to deliver a near-impossible 400 000 vehicles in December to match its Daimler-backed rival (Mercedes had, after all, widened its lead over the Munich-based brand in the first three quarters of the year). Audi, meanwhile, sat in third on 1 699 550 units at the end of November.
“No other German automobile brand in the premium segment posted as strong growth as the Stuttgart-based company with the three-pointed star in 2017,” Mercedes-Benz said in a press release.
“With Mercedes-Benz, our core brand, we were the best-selling premium brand once again in 2017. We can be proud of that achievement – and we will build on it,” added Dr Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, contributed record numbers, achieving six-digit sales for the first time in its history. In 2017, a total of 131 970 AMG vehicles were delivered, representing growth of 33%.
The Smart brand added another 135 025 units in 2017, but these were not included in the Mercedes-Benz brand figure of 2 289 344 units listed above (overall, Mercedes-Benz Cars thus managed 2 424 369 sales for the year).
