Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has shared their Q1 2016 results, a 41% growth in sales compared to the first quarter of 2015. The company’s best-ever quarter results with 2658 cars sold, registered and delivered from January to March 2016.
These sales figures cement MBM’s position as the number one premium automotive brand in Malaysia. The German automaker which celebrates its 130th anniversary this year also recorded a milestone market share of 2.3% as at March 2016, a 0.5% increase on the full-year 2015 sales in which 10,845 units of passenger cars were sold.
Compact models, the A, CLA and GLA-Class, accounted for 664 units sold, an increase of 59% on January and March 2015. The leading model was the A-Class (300 units, up 38%) followed by the 183 units of the CLA (up 200%) and then the GLA at 159 units, a 77% increase.
The best selling vehicles were from the locally-assembled Limousine range comprising the C, E and S-Class with a total of 1814 units, a 26% increase on Q1 2015. The top-seller was the C-Class at 1359 units (up 871% on Q1 2015). Assembly of the C-Class began at Mercedes’s Pekan plant in April 2015.
This was followed by the E-Class (260 units) and S-Class (195 units), both down, by 75% and 28% respectively. The slowdown in E-Class sales is due to the launch of an all-new E-Class later this year while the S-Class sales were affected by uncertainty over the hybrid policy for 2016. This has been resolved with the government announcement that locally-assembled hybrid vehicles will continue to enjoy import and excise duty exemptions for the time being.
Mercedes-Benz SUVs, the GLC, GLE and GLE Coupé ,which began sales in January 2016 accounted for 170 units while its Dream Cars comprising the E-Class Coupé, the CLS, S-Class Coupé, S-Class Maybach and Mercedes-AMG models made up 20 units of the tally of 2658 passenger cars sold in the first quarter of this year.
The first and oldest car maker in the world, Mercedes-Benz is celebrating their 130th anniversary this year. In Malaysia, this has been been marked so far by the upgrading of three dealerships which have been remodelled to the brand’s latest identity guidelines, four new vehicles introduced into the market, the certification of 18 Product Experts and the launch of four My Service Options to improve customers’ after-sales and service experience.
Besides the launch of the GLC, GLE, GLE Coupé SUVs and facelifted A-Class, and introduction of C180 and C300 variants, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia launches to look forward to for the rest of 2016 include six new car models, two new engine variants and a facelift model.
