The car manufacturer said the decline in passenger cars was primarily due to model changes and delivery bottlenecks in Asia. picture alliance/dpa/Revierfoto | Territory photo
Mercedes-Benz recorded a six percent decline in sales in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year.
The passenger car division recorded a decrease of eight percent, while the van division increased by seven percent.
The decline is due to model changes and delivery bottlenecks in Asia, with sales in China in particular falling by twelve percent.
Mercedes-Benz sold fewer vehicles in the first quarter of this year than in the same period last year. With a total of 568,400 cars and vans sold, this corresponds to a minus of six percent, as the car manufacturer announced on Wednesday in Stuttgart. The passenger car division recorded a decrease of eight percent with 463,000 vehicles sold, while the van division achieved an increase of seven percent with a total of 105,400 vehicles sold.
The decline in passenger cars was primarily due to model changes and delivery bottlenecks in Asia, which temporarily had a severe impact on sales in the first quarter, Mercedes-Benz said. In China in particular, sales fell by twelve percent, primarily due to the ramp-up of the E-Class with a long wheelbase. However, the carmaker expects sales of this model to pick up again in the coming quarters. Nevertheless, Mercedes continued to sell 168,900 vehicles, more than one in three cars in the Chinese market, which is important for the company.
Mercedes also suffered a decline in fully electric passenger cars. Sales in this segment fell by eight percent to 47,500 units. This means that around one in ten passenger cars sold in the first quarter was a purely electric car.
AA/dpa