Over 1.1m three-pointed stars sold in 2008

As of November, Mercedes-Benz have sold a combined total of 1,158,200 cars for the year 2008, a slight from 1,169,900 cars from the corresponding period in 2007. The credit crunch is just only beginning to hit, as the picture gets gloomier if you zoom in closer to examine the sales in November alone, which stood at 84,500 cars compared to 113,000 in Nov 2007.

The said figures, obtained from a press released dated 5 Dec 2008, covered all of Mercedes-Benz, AMG, smart and Maybach cars. Merc-badged cars accounted for the bulk of the numbers, and they are dropping, selling a combined total of 1,034,700 for Jan-Nov 2008 (1,079,400 for Jan-Nov 2007) and 74,400 for Nov 2008 alone (102,700 for Nov 2007).

Fortunately for Merc, the smarts registered improved numbers, with a total of 123,500 sold thus far this year (90,500 for Jan-Nov 2007) and 10,100 of them sold in Nov 2008 (10,300 for Nov 2007, so not much change there). The soaring fuel prices in the early half of the year, and the collapsing global economic climate definitely had everything to do with this, as consumers seek to purchase smaller, more economical cars.

There is still a bit more good news for Merc, as there are now more than 500,000 units of the new W204 C-Class sold, with 408,100 of them sold this year alone. The wagon variant, not officially available in Malaysia, found 5,400 buyers in November 2008 (1,800 for Nov 2007), while (according to the press release anyway) the sedan maintained its position as the worldwide market leader in its segment since the beginning of the year.

Recently added to the W204 lineup is the C350 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY (Merc’s emphasis on the word ‘efficiency’), which features second generation gasoline direct injection. Fed with a diet of premium fuel, Merc claims an astonishing consumption figure of 8.3l / 100km from the 288bhp 3,498cc V6 engine. In comparison, the run of the mill C350 is rated at a mere 268bhp and consumes 14% more fuel.

The next BlueEFFICIENCY variant will come from the S-Class in the form of the S320 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, which is gives an even more amazing consumption figure of 7.6l / 100km. The 3.0-litre V6 diesel powerplant is rated to produce 235bhp and a not inconsiderable 540Nm of torque. It is coupled with the 7G-Tronic, that has standstill decoupling, a feature designed to totally disconnect the transmission from the engine (think stepping the clutch in a manual), to spare it from the trouble of overcoming the hydrodynamic resistance in the torque converter. This improves fuel consumption (by how much, I don’t know) and also reduces noise and vibration during idling.

Whatever their motivations were, the decisions by the European authorities to impose stringent emission and consumption requirements in their cars has had the positive effect of driving car manufacturers to come up with products that are easy on both the environment and our wallet. This is doubly useful when you consider the current shape of the worldwide economy.

I am afraid we have really yet to see the full effects of the global financial meltdown. In the car world, we have already seen Honda pulling out of F1 and the American motor giants on the brink of a collapse of epic proportions. Mercedes should survive, but are unlikely to be unscathed. Don’t be surprised if the figure in next year’s edition of this report features one digit less.

Strong sales for 2008, let’s see if they can hold it for 2009.