Mercedes-Benz China sales fall 30% as Europe hits one in four cars electric

China drags overall volumes lower

Mercedes-Benz Cars delivered 417,800 vehicles between April and June, an 8 percent decline from the same period a year earlier, according to figures reported by Hungarian outlet e-cars.hu, which based its analysis on the Stuttgart carmaker's newly published quarterly numbers. The drop was almost entirely attributable to China, where sales fell 30 percent and the brand delivered fewer than 100,000 units in the quarter. Over the first half of the year the Chinese decline reached 28 percent.

Outside China the picture reversed. Combined sales in the rest of the world rose 2 percent year on year, led by North America (+13 percent), Europe (+4 percent) and Germany (+6 percent). Mercedes attributed the Chinese weakness to intense competition, cautious consumer sentiment, ongoing model changeovers and its own deliberate sales strategy, noting that pressure was strongest in the combustion-engine segment.

Europe drives the electric shift

Battery-electric sales moved in the opposite direction. Mercedes-Benz Cars sold 52,900 fully electric vehicles worldwide in the second quarter, a 51 percent increase year on year. Europe accounted for 43,500 of them, or 82.2 percent of global BEV sales, a share e-cars.hu says it calculated from the raw data rather than one the company reported directly. European electric sales grew 87 percent, roughly twice the global pace, on the outlet's calculation.

As a result, one in four new Mercedes-Benz passenger cars sold in Europe (26 percent) was fully electric, against a much lower share a year earlier. Worldwide, the ratio was one in eight. In Germany, traditionally one of the brand's more conservative home markets for electric cars, battery-electric sales more than doubled in a single quarter, a gain of over 100 percent.

Model offensive and China recovery plan

The electric CLA, GLC and GLB drove the growth. Press reports cited by e-cars.hu indicate the electric GLC production ramp-up ran slower than planned because of shortages of certain key components, suggesting the increase could have been larger with smoother supply. The new electric C-Class, orderable in Europe since May, is expected to become a high-volume model, and orders for the electric GLC, CLA, GLB and the S-Class already extend into next year. A new electric GLA is due at the end of July.

Mathias Geisen, the Mercedes-Benz Group AG board member responsible for sales and customer relations, said the company's largest-ever model launch programme is gaining momentum, pointing to the successful European debut of the new S-Class and further market roll-outs in the coming months. For China, Mercedes is counting on a new model generation arriving in the second half of the year, including the long-wheelbase electric GLC L, the new S-Class, the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class and the new GLE. Over the next six to twelve months it will also introduce AI-supported onboard systems and advanced driver-assistance technology across almost its entire range, features aimed particularly at the technology-sensitive Chinese market.

Plug-in hybrids and vans

Mercedes does not break out plug-in hybrid sales separately, grouping them with battery-electric models in a combined xEV category. On that basis, xEV models reached 43 percent of European sales, while global xEV volume was 87,500 units in the quarter, a 21 percent share. In the van division, Mercedes-Benz Vans sold 94,100 light commercial vehicles, of which 10,100 were fully electric. Total van sales were essentially flat (+1 percent), but electric van sales rose 46 percent year on year, lifting the fully electric share worldwide from 7 to 11 percent and to 13 percent in Europe.