(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Mercedes narrowed the gap to Audi last year to 113,820 vehicles from 135,026 in 2012 as demand surged 64 per cent for the A-Class hatchback, B-Class wagon and CLA coupe compacts. Sales increases by Mercedes outpaced Audi's gains in Europe and the US
"We look back on the best year of the Mercedes-Benz brand," Dieter Zetsche, chief executive officer of Stuttgart, Germany-based parent company Daimler AG, said today in a statement. "Our growth strategy is working.
Zetsche has vowed by the end of the decade to regain the top spot in global deliveries that Mercedes lost in 2005 to Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, which has yet to report 2013 figures. He's rolling out 13 Mercedes models with no predecessor through 2020. The new CLA four-door coupe went on sale last year and the small sport-utility vehicle GLA starts deliveries in March. Mercedes is also renewing its best-selling C-Class line, presenting the sedan version at the Detroit Auto Show next week
"The CLA helped the brand expand beyond baby boomers to the Generations X and Y," said Sarwant Singh, a London-based automotive partner at Frost & Sullivan. "It dropped the average age of the buyers of the previous entry-level Mercedes, the C- Class, by 10 years.
Daimler rose as much as 0.8 per cent and was trading up 0.3 per cent at ‚¬62.36 as of 10:33am in Frankfurt. The stock has gained 45 per cent in the past 12 months, valuing the company at ‚¬66.8 billion ($90.7 billion)
Mercedes deliveries jumped 11 per cent in 2013 to 1.46 million cars and sport-utility vehicles in the biggest gain since 2010. That compares with an 8.3 per cent increase to 1.58 million full-year deliveries that Volkswagen AG's Audi division posted on Thursday
December sales at Mercedes rose 11 per cent to 138,180 vehicles. Daimler's Smart city-car brand reported a 2.8 per cent sales decline in 2013 to 100,792 vehicles, with the drop buffered by a 20 per cent jump in December
Audi said on Thursday that 2013 sales, boosted by an 18 per cent jump in December, were propelled by demand for A3 compact models and the Q SUV line-up
The division is the biggest contributor of earnings at Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen, Europe's third-biggest carmaker. Porsche, the maker of the 911 sports car that's also owned by Volkswagen, reported a 15 per cent increase in 2013 sales to 162,145 cars and SUVs
Bentley, the UK ultra-luxury auto producer that's a VW nameplate as well, boosted sales 19 per cent to 10,120 cars. BMW's Rolls-Royce super-luxury division said yesterday that 2013 sales rose 1.5 per cent to 3,630 cars
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