Mercedes-Benz Malaysia announces 2011 sales figures
It was another year to remember for Mercedes-Benz Malaysia, as rich Malaysians continue to plonk their hard earned money on the three-pointed star. Some 7,467 passenger cars and commercial vehicles were sold in the whole of 2011, exceeding 2010’s figure of 6,940 by 7.6%.
From that grand total, some 5,431 units were accounted for by Mercedes-Benz passenger cars – a 9% increase from 2010. The company’s mainstream models continue to lead their respective market segments, with the C-Class and E-Class being particularly successful, accounting 82% of total passenger car sales.
The C-Class, which was facelifted in July 2011, remains the company’s top seller with 2,249 units, a 15% improvement from 1,956 in 2010. Meanwhile, the E-Class follows close with 2,200 units, cementing its position as leader of its market segment. Driving the success of its passenger car sales is the 1.8-litre M271 CGI engine, which powers the C 200, C 250, E 200 CGI, and E 250 CGI models in 184hp and 204hp states of tune.
Another segment topper from the company is none other than the S-Class with 246 units delivered in 2011, and 85% of them accounted for by the S 300 L and S 350 L BlueDirect models. Also going strong, despite being near the end of its product life cycle is the B-Class with 633 units sold, up 53% from 413 in 2010. Remaining passenger car sales were accounted for by the M-Class and R-Class with 51 and 45 units respectively.
Speaking at a briefing to members of the press in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, the company’s President and CEO Mr Roland S Folger commented that, “Our C and E-Classes continue to be amongst the most sought after premium cars in the market and the brightest stars in our passenger car fleet while the performance of our B-class has left an indelible mark within the premium MPV market.”
Over at the commercial vehicle division, sales rose 5% to close at 2,036 units with Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles selling 280 units and Mitsubishi FUSO selling 1,756. Sales of Mitsubishi FUSO trucks were inevitably hit by the tsunami disaster in Japan last March, but the company still carried over 400 orders from last year to be fulfilled in 2012.
Looking forward to this year’s prospects, Folger said, “We are off to a great start in 2012 with new passenger and commercial vehicle launches in Q1. The new models will deepen and widen our portfolio of offerings to our existing customers while opening up new market segments. With our Pekan plant undergoing a number of improvements, we are also able to step up production to meet growing demand for our vehicles. Notwithstanding, our priority focus is in ensuring unparalleled customer experience in line with our signature Mercedes-Benz star treatment.”
A total of six new passenger car models will be launched by MBM this year, and they will be starting with three next week, all of them all-new models – the C-Class Coupe, SLK roadster, and CLS four-door coupe. The next three are unspecified as of now, but intelligent guesses will point to the next generation B-Class being one of them.
