On course for another annual sales record
Mercedes-Benz Mid-East half-year sales up 26 per cent

Motion Trends, PR, 12 July 2005 – Mercedes Car Group Middle East has confirmed its leadership in the region’s luxury car segment with half-year sales up 26% during the first six months of the year compared to 2004.

Retail sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles from the period January to June totalled 6,848 with the CLS-Class, E-Class, C-Class and M-Class helping to drive growth. The numbers put the company well on the way to another record year.

The UAE continues to be the largest market in a region that includes the GCC, Levant, Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan but not Iran, with sales up a massive 57%. However, Qatar turned in the best figures with year on year sales up a massive 140%, followed by Jordan, Bahrain and Pakistan.

“Our sales increase continues to show that we are still the leading luxury car brand in the Middle East with a range of exciting and technologically advanced vehicles in each market segment that meet all the needs of increasingly demanding customers,” said Nicholas Speeks, President and CEO, DaimlerChrysler Middle East.

Emphasising Mercedes-Benz leadership in the region, June was another double-digit growth month with over 1,000 vehicles sold, the sixth month in succession this year that sales have increased.

“With the premium market continuing to expand, the highly successful introduction of the second generation M-Class, new engine variants and Sports Editions of the C-Class and E-Class plus a new S-Class, the region’s best selling luxury sedan with an over 40 per cent market share in its segment, due to arrive in September, I am confident that we will increase our lead in the luxury car segment in the second half of the year,” added Speeks.