Mercedes-Benz Cars delivered 1,617,508 (+3.0%) vehicles between January and September thanks to strong demand across the portfolio for Mercedes-Maybach, Mercedes-AMG and for battery electric vehicles including the EQA and EQC (EQC 400 4MATIC, combined power consumption: 21.5 kWh/100 km, combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km)[1]. Deliveries were boosted by record demand in China, which helped raise worldwide sales of the S-Class by 45% to 62,306 units during the same period. High-end vehicle deliveries held up even in the third quarter as the semiconductor supply shortfall intensified, impacting overall production and sales.
The world-wide supply shortage of certain semiconductor components affected global deliveries to customers in Q3, especially in the month of September. Mercedes-Benz is making every effort to ensure that customer orders can be fulfilled. The chip supply situation remains volatile and the shortage is expected to continue to impact the upcoming quarters in terms of production and sales.
In the first three quarters of the year, sales of hybrid and electric vehicles surged to a record 184,369 units (+142.7%). The Mercedes-Benz EQC sold 17,938 units and the EQA achieved a record 13,021 deliveries thanks to robust demand for zero-emission cars, particularly in Q3 when almost half of all EQ deliveries occurred. The EQS electric flagship went on sale in August.
“For the EQS, the order intake is absolutely inspiring even though we only started sales in August. Also the EQE, which we presented for the first time at the IAA in Munich, received a very positive response from media, retailers and customers,” stated Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler AG and Mercedes‑Benz AG responsible for Marketing and Sales.
Overall 61,652 plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars were sold in Q3 (+34.1%) of which 19,298 were electric-only vehicles (+38.0%).
Year-to-date, deliveries of Mercedes-AMG models reached 116,394 (+30.6%), G-Class models rose to 31,637 (+29.6%) units and Mercedes-Maybach sales increased to 10,809 units (+41.8%). Mercedes-Maybach sales also surged during the third quarter, rising 86% in large part thanks to the availability of the next generation Mercedes-Maybach S-Class.
Sales of Mercedes-Benz in the Asia-Pacific region rose to 788,713 (+5.6%) between January and September, a new record, and reached 592,203 units (+4.0%) in China. In Europe, sales reached 528,180 (-3.5%) of which Germany accounted for 152,514 units (-20.1%) while sales in the North America region totalled 248,086 units (+8.6%) with 215,776 passenger cars delivered to customers in the USA (+9.6%).
Mercedes-Benz sold 428,361 cars world-wide in Q3 (-30.2%). Around 23,600 S-Classes were delivered to customers in Q3 (+48.1%). The GLC SUV was again the best-selling single Mercedes-Benz model world-wide, followed by the E-Class sedan.
In the commercial sector, Mercedes-Benz Vans delivered 243,678 (+9.8%) vehicles between January and September, thanks to strong demand across the whole portfolio. In Q3 2021, commercial sales from Mercedes-Benz Vans reached a total of 83,160 Sprinter vans, Vitos, Tourer and Citans world-wide, 13.3% below the strong prior-year quarter, which was characterized by corona-related catch-up effects. This decrease is driven in particular by the semiconductor shortage, which means that customer demand can only be met with a delay. Sales of the electric models eSprinter, eVito and eVito Tourer increased by 278% compared to Q3 2020.
“At Vans, the future of transportation is electric and we are consistently implementing our strategy and successfully working towards our goal of being a leader in the field of electro-mobility. The sale of almost 3,900 electric vans in the third quarter alone impressively underlines our claim. After the Concept EQT, we presented the new generation Citan and eCitan in August and received very positive feedback from our customers and from the media”, said Marcus Breitschwerdt, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans.