(April 6, 2013) Mercedes-Benz delivered 139,920 vehicles to customers in March making it the top sales month in history for the Germany company. First-quarter sales were 3.5% higher than in the same period compared to 2012 with 324,898 units sold.

Despite the difficult start of the European automotive market into 2013 that remained below expectations, Mercedes-Benz was able to keep the previous years’ level and to gain market shares in Western Europe. This was due to the success of the new compact cars. In the same period, Mercedes posted strong months in Russia and Japan.

Therefore, Mercedes-Benz was the most registered premium manufacturer in Japan and the U.S. as well as in Germany. In China, the first quarter was affected by the reorganization of the sales structures and the upcoming model changeovers. Among the model series, increases were posted in particular by the new compacts and the SUVs.

“Our sales developed very positively in March, so that we again topped the strong result of the previous year and have posted the best month in our company’s history to date. We have never sold as many vehicles in a single month," said Dr. Joachim Schmidt, executive vice president Sales and Marketing.

“With strong gains in the U.S. and in many new growth markets, we were able to balance out weakening European markets and the sales decrease in China and have posted yet another sales record in the first quarter.”

In the U.S., 69,187 vehicles were handed over to customers in the quarter representing a 12.5% increase, which makes Mercedes-Benz into the most frequently registered premium manufacturer since the start of the year. The company also achieved a new sales record in Mexico with 20.7% growth compared to the same period in the previous year.

Among the model series of the Mercedes-Benz brand, the new compacts performed particularly well in the first quarter, with deliveries of 77,044 units to A-Class and B-Class customers from January to March, a.4% gain. A week ago, Mercedes-Benz presented the purely electric version of the B-Class in New York. Customers in the U.S. will be able to order the B-Class Electric Drive starting this fall.

The SUVs with the star continued their satisfactory development with worldwide sales of 77,227 units in the first quarter, an increase of 30.6%. New sales records were posted by the GLK (up 40.2%), the GL (up 33.5%) and the G-Class (up 70.3%). The same applies to the M-Class up 27.6%) which, moreover, was the market leader in its segment worldwide.