Despite a good start to the sales year in January 2020, Mercedes-Benz Vans saw 64,588 units delivered in Q1, which was a 14.9% decline on the previous corresponding period.
The pandemic developments in Europe and USA and the consequences of the temporary closures of retail businesses in those markets had a significant impact on unit sales in March.
“The impact of the corona crisis seriously weakened our unit sales in March, and we therefore did not achieve our target numbers in the first quarter. Nonetheless, we achieved a very good result, especially in Germany,” says Mercedes-Vans head Marcus Breitschwerdt.
Despite the challenging conditions, the Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans divisions sold a total of 547,829 units in the first quarter.
Mercedes-Benz cars ended the first quarter with a global retail sales of 477,378 units a 14.9% decrease on the previous corresponding figure.
Sales of Mercedes-Benz cars for the first quarter in China were down by more than 20%, and there was a 15% decline in Europe.
However Mercedes-Benz AG marketing and sales head Britta Seeger says the company has strengthened its online activities and digital platforms so it is always available to customers.
“We are continuing to work on future planning and strategic projects so that we can quickly get back on track after the crisis,” Seeger says.
“In China and South Korea, our dealerships are now fully open and we see a significant increase in demand there. That gives us confidence.
The Smart brand suffered a sales decline of 78.3% in the first quarter, delivering 5,863 units to customers around the globe. However the company says this also reflects the phase-out of predecessor models and the switch to solely battery-electric driving.
In Europe, 188,963 vehicles were delivered to customers in the first quarter (-15.9%). In Germany, Mercedes-Benz sold 64,332 cars in the months of January to March (-8.8%). In its domestic market, Mercedes-Benz was the premium car brand with the most new-car registrations in the first quarter.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the Stuttgart-based brand ended the first three month of the year with 198,849 premium vehicles sold (-17.1%). In its biggest market China, Mercedes-Benz sold 138,960 cars in the period from January to March, which is 20.3% below the high prior-year level.
First-quarter deliveries in North America amounted to 78,501 vehicles. Mercedes-Benz delivered a total of 67,746 cars in the USA, making it the highest-selling premium brand in the USA from January to March (-4.8%).
