Mercedes-Benz delivered 153,862 vehicles to customers in February, an increase of 15%

• Mercedes-Benz delivered 153,862 vehicles to customers in February, an increase of 15%
• Thanks to its 48th consecutive record month, Mercedes-Benz has grown for four years
• New best figures in all three core regions: Europe, Asia-Pacific and NAFTA
• More than 70% growth for E-Class Saloon and Estate

Mercedes-Benz grew at a double-digit rate also in the second month of this year and sold 153,862 vehicles to its customers (+15%). Unit sales in the first two months of 2017 increased compared with the prior-year period by 16.8% to 332,329 vehicles. 

Thanks to the strong sales figures, the Stuttgart-based company with the three-pointed star posted new best figures both for February and for the first two months. February was the 48th record month in a row; thus, the unit sales of Mercedes-Benz increased continuously for four years. 

Last month, Mercedes-Benz was the premium brand with the highest numbers of new cars registered in Switzerland, Portugal, Japan, Australia, USA, Canada and Mexico – among others.

Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales: “In February, Mercedes-Benz was able to continue its double-digit growth momentum and increased unit sales by 15 percent. We achieved particularly strong growth of 70 percent with the E-Class Saloon and Estate. Our customers value the numerous innovations as well as the safety and comfort offered by improved assistance systems.”

Mercedes-Benz unit sales by region and market

In Europe, Mercedes-Benz increased its unit sales to 62,422 vehicles (+7.8%), more than ever before in a February. In Germany, more than 22,000 automobiles with the three-pointed star were delivered to customers (+6.9%). In Great Britain, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Austria and Poland, Mercedes-Benz achieved not only double-digit growth in unit sales, but also a new record in a February.

The Stuttgart-based company with the three-pointed star handed over 58,186 cars to customers in the Asia-Pacific region in February. This is an increase of 29.5% and a best-ever figure in the second month of a year. Demand for Mercedes-Benz vehicles continues to be very high especially in China: Unit sales there reached the best-ever number of 36,277 vehicles in February, representing growth of 41.9%. Mercedes-Benz set new records for unit sales in a February also in South Korea, Australia, Malaysia and India.

In the NAFTA region, more automobiles were sold than ever before in a February last month: 29,219 customers were able to receive their new car with the three-pointed star (+8.8%). In the USA, Mercedes-Benz achieved a new high of 24,522 vehicles sold (+6.9%). Mercedes-Benz achieved its highest ever unit sales in a February also in Canada and Mexico.

Mercedes-Benz unit sales by model

Demand for the C-Class remains very high; it was the bestselling Mercedes-Benz model in February. Sales of the C-Class Saloon and Estate increased to more than 29,000 units (+3.9%). In the Asia-Pacific region, the C-Class set a new record last month, primarily due to strong demand for the long-wheelbase version of the C-Class Saloon.

The E-Class Saloon and Estate posted growth of more than 70% with 23,626 units delivered to customers worldwide in February. Customer demand for the new generation is very strong, so the previous best-ever February sales were significantly surpassed. The biggest contributions to this growth came from China, Germany and the USA.

The SUVs from Mercedes-Benz are very popular around the world. Last month, 52,503 units were sold, a new best figure in a February and an increase of 14.9%. The GLA is one of the bestsellers in the current Mercedes-Benz SUV portfolio. Following the successful world premiere of the new GLA in January, the first model has driven off the production line at the plant in Rastatt in Germany.

smart

The smart brand sold 9,265 units of the smart fortwo and forfour to customers worldwide in February. In the Asia-Pacific region, the urban microcar posted new best-ever sales – due in particular to strong demand in the Chinese market.

Overview of sales by Mercedes-Benz Cars

	February 2017	Change in %	Jan. – Feb. 2017	Change in %
Mercedes-Benz	153,862	+15.0	332,329	+16.8
smart	9,265	-7.5	18,914	-2.2
Mercedes-Benz Cars	163,127	+13.5	351,243	+15.6
Mercedes-Benz unit sales in the region/market
Europe	62,422	+7.8	124,092	+10.0
- thereof Germany	22,173	+6.9	40,190	+10.0
Asia-Pacific	58,186	+29.5	140,769	+29.9
- thereof China	36,277	+41.9	95,076	+40.3
NAFTA	29,219	+8.8	59,220	+7.6
- thereof USA	24,522	+6.9	50,049	+5.1

Jaguar Land Rover announces its sales for the month and year to date, all UP UP UP!!!!!

• Jaguar Land Rover sales up 2% in November
• Calendar year to date Jaguar sells 132,381 vehicles, up 75%
• Calendar year to date Land Rover sells 395,556 vehicles, up 9% 

	November	% increase(decrease) YOY	Jan – November	% increase YOY	15/16 Financial Year	% increase YOY
Jaguar Land Rover	47,588	2	527,937	21	521,571	13
Jaguar	14,613	83	132,381	75	94,449	23
Land Rover	32,975	(14)	395,556	9	427,122	11

The UK's leading manufacturer of premium luxury vehicles has announced further global sales growth for November 2016, following a successful month in China and last week’s announcement that its Chinese plant is increasing capacity by over 50%.

Jaguar Land Rover today reported its best ever November retail sales of 47,588 vehicles, up 2% compared to November 2015. 

The year-on-year growth in retail volumes was driven by strong sales of the new Jaguar XF (with the addition of the long wheel base XFL in China) and F-PACE as well as continuing solid sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport - offset partially by the run-out of Land Rover Discovery in advance of the all-new model in 2017.

Jaguar Land Rover delivered solid retail sales growth for November year on year across two of its largest three markets, with China (up 42%) and North America (up 20%) offset by sales in Europe (down 13%), the UK (down 6%) and in other overseas markets, which include Russia and Brazil (down 25%). Jaguar Land Rover sold 527,937 vehicles in the first 11 months of 2016, 21% up on the same period in the prior year.

Further Chinese growth is in prospect following the announcement during the Guangzhou Auto Show of the Phase II capacity expansion project at the Chery Jaguar Land Rover plant in Changshu, which will increase manufacturing capacity by 70,000 vehicles, an increase of more than 50%.

Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director, said: "These are solid results underpinned by encouraging performance in China, where our sales are growing healthily in an incredibly competitive environment. Sales in our Land Rover brand have been affected by the run-out of the Land Rover Defender and the current Land Rover Discovery model, but our growing order bank for the New Discovery gives us confidence for 2017.

“Meanwhile, the Jaguar brand continues to show strong growth, especially in the US market where XF and F-PACE have inspired a new generation of customers to try the Jaguar experience.” 

Jaguar recorded its best November ever, with retail sales reaching 14,613 vehicles, up 83% compared to November last year. Driven by continuing strong sales of the new XF and the F-PACE, calendar year-to-date sales for Jaguar were 132,381, up 75% year-on-year.

Land Rover recorded November sales of 32,975 vehicles, down 14% on November 2015, as continuing solid sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport were offset by lower volumes of the discontinued Land Rover Defender and outgoing Discovery. Calendar year-to-date sales for Land Rover reached 395,556 vehicles, 9% up on the prior year. 

Jato Dynamics announces sales for Europe for April, with some countries struggling, overall, a slight increase.

• Growth slowed in Italy, as Spain recovered
• Year-to-date volume grew by 8.4% to 3.85 million vehicles
• 24% of total registrations were SUV models, with the segment volume up by 22%
• The Renault Captur became the best-selling SUV

Led by strong growth in Spain and Italy, new car registrations in Europe’s Big 5 markets grew by 8.6% to 958,400 units in April 2016.  After the UK’s traditional volume peak in March, which saw registrations rise to 1.36 million, April produced further gains across the top five European markets with SUVs driving higher volume and counting for 24.4% and 24.9% of April’s and YTD’s totals respectively. 

The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) came in at 11.35 million, up from March registrations of 11.04 million and significantly higher than the 10.48 million in April 2015.

Germany continued to lead the market, with volume up by 8.4% at 315,900 units, accounting for a third of the Big 5’s total. 

After a relatively flat March, April saw registrations grow healthily, bringing the YTD total to 1.11 million units, up by 5.6% over January-April 2015. Impressively, April’s volume for Germany was the highest since 2009. The UK also saw positive growth – despite only seeing a 2.0% rise on April 2015, last month was the best April for UK car registrations for a decade. 

Grateful acknowledgement to JATO Dynamics for the info used within this report.

The UK total was 7,000 units higher than the total recorded in France, where the registrations advanced by 7.1% at 182,800 vehicles - the best April result in France since 2010. 

However, the largest growth figures were recorded in Italy and Spain, where April’s volumes grew by 12.3% and 20.7% respectively. While Italy moderated its growth, after an 18% rise in January, followed by 28% in February and 18% in March, Spain returned to positive growth after a 1% decrease posted in March.

Volkswagen led the brand leader board, recording 12.2% market share at 116,400 units. However, its volume grew by only 3.1% over April 2015, leading to a market share loss of 0.66 percentage points compared to April 2015 - the largest market share fall of all the brands. 

The brand posted a strong increase in Spain (+31%), but lost market share in Italy (+10%), Germany (+3%) and France (+1%), and recorded a significant sales drop in the UK (-10%). Volkswagen’s SUV registrations counted for 8% of its total, with volume falling by 18%. However, the German brand was not the only one to lose market share. 

Volume at Renault, Ford, Opel/Vauxhall and Peugeot grew less than the market’s average change, as their SUV registrations growth (+32%) was offset by the decline on their subcompact volume (-6%).

In contrast to the top 5 brands, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Fiat and Citroen reported solid growth figures, with Mercedes posting the highest growth in the top ten, achieving +20.2% over April 2015. 

In the case of the three German premium brands, their registrations were boosted by a 25% gain from the SUV range and strong increases in Spain, Italy and France. The healthy performance of the Italian market continued to be a source of strength for Fiat, which registered 63% of its cars in its home market. 

However, in terms of percentage growth, its volume grew faster in Spain (+31%), Germany (+19%) and France (+15%). Citroen completed the top 10 with 40,300 units sold, increasing its market share from 4.15% in April 2015 to 4.21% last month. 

Other big increases outside the top 10 included Land Rover (+20%), Hyundai (+19%), Kia (+16%), Mazda (+26%), Honda (+63%), Jaguar (+147%) and Infiniti (+159%).

With only two exceptions, all segments recorded market share losses, with the subcompacts losing most ground, recording 21.7% market share (vs. 22.9% in April 2015). 

This segment, the second largest in the Big 5, was negatively affected by the growth in popularity of SUVs, as volume dropped off 9% at Renault and 17% at Ford. The market share decline posted by the subcompacts, MPVs, compacts, city-cars and Vans was exactly the same as the percentage points gained by SUVs, up by 2.62 points from 21.7% market share in April 2015 to 24.4% one year later. 

The fastest growing segment in Europe was led by Nissan, although they only grew by 3%. In contrast, Renault’s registrations grew by an impressive 83%, thanks to the success of the Captur and Kadjar. 

As a result of the success of the new Q7, Audi was able to outsell Peugeot, and become the third best-selling brand in the SUV ranking. Ford, Mercedes, Hyundai, Kia and Fiat were the other big winners.

In the model ranking Volkswagen occupied the first two places, with the Golf first with 34,300 units sold - up by only 1.0% on April 2015. The Polo ranked second, up by a strong 16% with 21,600 units sold. 

The top-seller lost 0.27 percentages points (pp) of share, with other loses experienced by the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (-0.28 pp), Renault Scenic (-0.40), Clio (-0.42), Ford Fiesta (-0.58) and Hyundai ix35 (-0.68). The Polo outsold the Renault Clio (-9.2%) and Ford Fiesta (-17%), both of the latter models negatively affected by lower sales in their home markets. 

In April, the Peugeot 208 not only outsold the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa but also moved very close to the Fiesta. However, the stand-out performance of the month was the Renault Captur, overtaking the Nissan Qashqai to become the best-selling SUV in the Big EU 5, achieving sales of 14,500 units. 

This represented an increase of 19%, versus the Qashqai’s 13,200 units, respresenting a decrease of 4.1%. The small SUV from Renault benefited from rising demand in France (+29%), Germany (+26%) and UK (+19%), while the compact SUV from Nissan posted sales falls in France (-14%), UK (-5%) and Italy (-1.7%). 

April’s big market share winners include three SUVs (Hyundai Tucson, Renault Kadjar and Mercedes GLC), one compact (Fiat Tipo) and the new Audi A4.

“Last month was the second best April of the last ten years,” commented Felipe Munoz, Global Automotive Analyst at JATO Dynamics. “While Germany, France and the UK are reaching their sales peak, further growth is expected in Italy and Spain. 

Unlike the circumstances of a decade ago, the growth is largely driven by the outstanding expansion of the SUV segment. The appeal of SUVs continues to gain further momentum at the expense of more traditional models,” concluded Munoz.