Auto industry: Mercedes-Benz sells fewer vehicles at the beginning of the year

The car maker Mercedes-Benz once again sold fewer vehicles at the beginning of the year. From January to March, 529,200 cars and vans were sold. That is about seven percent less than in the first quarter of 2024, the company said in Stuttgart. Last year, the Swabian heel had dropped four percent to almost 2.4 million.

The car division recorded a minus of four percent with 446,300 cars sold. Development with vans is significantly worse: in this segment, the company dropped 82,900 vehicles. Compared to the strong quarter of the previous year, this corresponds to a decline of 21 percent.

According to the company, the car sales were influenced by the model change in the entry segment, especially in Germany. In Germany, Mercedes sold ten percent fewer cars in the first quarter. The reason for this is the expiry of the electric smart. In addition, the CLA will only come onto the market in summer. The new model is considered the hope of the Swabians. The sales also decreased in the other vehicle classes.

With 152,800 vehicles, Mercedes still sells more than every third car in China. The paragraph fell by a tenth at the beginning of the year. On the important market, the Swabians now have strong competition from domestic manufacturers who take the rank at electric cars. In addition, the wealthy customers in the People’s Republic are less generous due to the difficult economic situation.

In the meantime, the company recorded a decline from 14 percent to 40,700 units for fully electric cars. The proportion of pure Stromer in all sold cars was around nine percent in the first quarter.

Considerable prospects for 2025

In 2024, the Mercedes Group result fell by a good 28 percent to EUR 10.4 billion in 2024. Sales decreased by 4.5 percent to 145.6 billion euros. For the current year, the car manufacturer expects even more headwind and less result. A slight decline is also expected when it comes to car sales. In 2024 it was 1.98 million units.