Mercedes China Jan sales double to 8,300 cars

Shanghai, February 5 (Gasgoo.com) Daimler AG said yesterday that its premium car division Mercedes-Benz saw sales in China more than double to 8,300 cars last month from 3,400 of a year earlier, Dow Jones reported. However, January sales fell by more than 1,000 units from the previous month.

Global sales of Mercedes-Benz cars were up 17% year-on-year at 72,600 vehicles in January, fueled by rising demand in North America and Asia. "We expect to see significant growth in the first quarter," Mercedes-Benz sales chief Joachim Schmidt said in a statement.

Mercedes-Benz sold a record 68,500 cars in China last year, up 77% year on year. Sales of its new generation S-Class came to 15,000 units, while the C-Class model achieved total deliveries of more than 16,000 units. Sales of the all-new E-Class model, launched in July, totaled 8,200 units.

Mercedes-Benz, which competes with BMW among others globally, said its record sales of 68,500 cars in China last year beat its previous target of 65,000 units. China sales of Volkswagen AG's Audi premier brand rose 32.9% to 158,941 units last year.

In December alone, sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in China hit a new monthly record of 9,350 units, while the annual growth was led by the group's locally produced C-Class cars.