While expected to post an overall second quarter improvement, the German manufacturer started the day with the announcement that its local Chinese branch is managing to top sale record after sale record in Asia. To put words into numbers, Mercedes' business in China exploded by 40 percent in the first half of the year, compared to the same period of 2008.
“As the economy and middle class in China continue to expand, more consumers have been able to realize their desire to drive a Mercedes-Benz,” Ulrich Walker, Daimler Northeast Asia CEO tried to find an explanation.
And the story does not end here. Daimler sees its sales hitting new record numbers in the coming months, as they have just released onto the Chinese market the new E-Klasse sedan, bringing the total number of Daimler models to 40, from 16 different classes. And when the S 400 hybrid will get there later this year...
“We’ve posted record sales for the first half of 2009 and just launched the all-new E-Class which already has 6000 pre-orders. Consumers throughout China can now finance a car or truck, and our joint venture in Beijing is building and selling a record number of vehicles. We will continue to do our best to expand our businesses as the economy continues to grow,” the CEO added.
Daimler sold 28,200 vehicles in China in the first half, amounting to, as we said, a 40 percent increase from a year ago. The Auto Finance arm of Mercedes Benz now reaches 100 markets in China, with a national average finance penetration of a little over 10 percent. From a year ago, Auto Finance's portfolio doubled, reaching 420 million euro.
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