Record September registrations for Mercedes-Benz Cars

Mercedes-Benz has just recorded its best-ever September registration performance, according to figures released by SMMT. 16,265 new cars were registered, beating the previous autumn high by more than 1100 units.

The biggest seller was the New C-Class Saloon, with 3,855 new cars registered. The previous monthly record was back in August 1995, at 3,758 units of the “202-series” variant. The New C-Class Saloon is only just available in its full range of engines, making the record even more remarkable.

Another new model launched in September was the innovative new smart fortwo. In its first week on sale, over 1000 orders were taken – far and away the best ever performance of a new smart model.

Success wasn’t limited to new and compact cars – the luxurious S-Class Saloon also had its most successful period as 766 new cars were registered, beating September 2001’s previous model’s best of 724. Of these 766, 664 were the luxury segment’s best-selling model, the S 320 CDI.

Dermot Kelly, Managing Director Mercedes-Benz Cars, commented on the results: “To have both our newest models beating all previous records shows how well customers have received the New C-Class Saloon and the new fortwo. Both ranges have performed exceptionally well, despite not yet being available in all variants.

“The results for S-Class are particularly interesting. They show that our customers are buying intelligently – and that they recognise that cars with modern, state-of-the art efficient diesel engines, like our S 320 CDI, are more popular than ever before. The diesel S-Class offers excellent fuel consumption with unmatched real-world comfort and performance – it’s clearly a very attractive proposition to private and business customers alike.”

Mr Kelly concluded: “Our year to date figures have softened over last year’s remarkable performance, due to the run-out of the previous generation C-Class Saloon, our most popular model. This was always in our forecasts, but to have the new C-Class Saloon performing so well so quickly exceeded even our own high expectations.”

The C-Class Saloon range is now bolstered with the arrival of the C 180 KOMPRESSOR, C 200 KOMPRESSOR Sport, C 200 CDI, C230 and C 320 CDI Sport models. The smart fortwo BRABUS arrives in January 2008.