Mercedes-Benz Leads in First Half of the Year

By Bennett  Oghifo

Mercedes-Benz in the first half of 2016 has overtaken other luxury car segments in the number of vehicles sold, approaching its goal to beat competitors on annual sales for the first time in 11 years, Bloomberg reports.

A statement by Weststar Associates Limited, sole distributors of Mercedes-Benz in Nigeria, said Mercedes’ sales for the first six months of 2016 increased by 12%, amounting to just over 1 million vehicles.

Much of the Mercedes’ sales success is attributed to the newer lineup of vehicles in the Mercedes showroom, including the X3-rivalling GLC mid-size SUV, the new C- and E-Class models as well as their subsequent variants.

“We began the second quarter with double-digit sales growth,” said Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales. “In the course of the year, we plan to keep that momentum going with a stream of new products, including four new or revised SUVs,” he added.

Another major milestone is the fact that Mercedes-Benz delivered more than 156,000 vehicles to customers in August – an increase of 11.8%. The main contribution towards this increase came from the strong rise in unit sales of SUVs of approximately 40%. Mercedes-Benz was able to surpass its strongest August to date in the previous year due to double-digit growth in the Asia-Pacific region and in the domestic market. Two sales milestones were also passed last month. More than four million SUVs and15,000 Mercedes-Maybach S-Class vehicles have been sold since their market launches.

“We are delighted about this advancement and will continue to display relentless effort in offering the best sales and after sales services to customers at all designated workshops and dealerships,” said Mr. Mirko Plath, MD/CEO, Weststar Associates Limited, sole distributors of Mercedes-Benz in Nigeria.

… E-Class Convertible Spied Looking Like a Baby S-Class

The next-generation Mercedes-Benz E-Class convertible is shaping up to look like a smaller version of the S-Class convertible.

Spy photographers have caught the E-Class convertible testing, sporting plenty of camouflage bumper-to-bumper. Still, we can make out the body lines of the next-generation model, with the rear end getting similar styling as the S-Class convertible.

The German automaker has already shown two variants of the new E-Class, the sedan and wagon, with the coupe expected to bow next and the convertible following six months later.

These spy photos also give us a good idea of what the overall profile of the E-Class coupe will look like. This particular convertible prototype is wearing a fabric soft top that will likely fold away into the trunk, just like the current model.

Powertrain options should resemble the E-Class sedan, and although the current-generation model doesn’t have any fully fledged AMG variants, that might change considering the push Mercedes is making with the AMG brand.

 

Related Articles