Mercedes-Benz luxury leader in Canada7:12PM ET on Tuesday Jan 04, 2011 by CNW Group -- Best year ever Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and luxury light
trucks with 28,065 units retailed (+ 15.6%)
-- Best year ever Mercedes-Benz and smart combined sales with
31,651 units delivered (+ 17.5%)
-- Extremely successful market introduction of Sprinter vans with
1,567 units
-- Best year ever Pre-Owned sales with 10,430 units delivered (+
26.9%)


Mercedes-Benz Canada reported today that Mercedes-Benz passenger car and luxury light truck sales totaled 28,065 for the year. This represents an increase of 15.6% or 3,789 units and the Mercedes-Benz brand's best results ever in the company's 55-year history in Canada. Passenger car sales totaled 16,497 units in 2010, representing a gain of 12.5% or 1,830 vehicles. On the luxury light trucks side, a total of 11,568 units were delivered throughout the year, which represents a growth of 20.4% or 1,959 units.
Sales for the group can be broken down as follows: 28,065 Mercedes-Benz vehicles, 2,019 smart fortwos, and 1,567 Sprinter vans, for a grand total of 31,651 units retailed throughout 2010. This significant achievement represents by far the best ever year-end total for the company, and an increase of 17.5% or 4,708 units compared to 2009's already record-breaking results.
The Pre-Owned Mercedes-Benz division celebrated a significant milestone in 2010 by delivering a year-end total of 10,430 units. This represents the best year ever for Pre-Owned sales in Canada and an increase of 26.9% or 2,211 units compared to last year's results.
A total of 2,682 Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and luxury light trucks were retailed in December. This represents the best December ever, and a gain of 47.4% or 863 units compared to December 2009. Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales totaled 1,525 vehicles in December, which is ahead 49.4% or 504 units. Luxury light trucks reported a total of 1,157 vehicles delivered for the month, which represents a gain of 45.0% or 359 units.
Mercedes-Benz consistently surpassed previous monthly and quarterly sales records throughout the year, with the company reporting 12 consecutive best ever months in 2010. Mercedes-Benz Canada also continued to dominate the high-luxury sedan segment with a total of over 3,400 E-Class and S-Class sedans retailed.
While each model range performed exceedingly well, there were some exceptional results that stood out including strong C-Class and M-Class model sales which totaled 8,090 and 3,871 units respectively for the year. The GLK-Class continued to be the industry's all-time single year sales leader in the luxury compact sport utility segment in 2010, shattering last year's previous milestone by 16.8% by delivering a total of 5,852 units for the year.
"It is tremendously satisfying that the long-term plan and overall strategy we established in Canada several years ago has allowed us to achieve our targets, consistently surpass numerous sales records over the years, build a solid business foundation for our dealers and now again report by far our best year ever. I am also extremely proud to mention that Mercedes-Benz Canada is one of the top ten global Mercedes-Benz markets," said Marcus Breitschwerdt, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Canada. "The 14 corporate retail facilities we own and operate make Mercedes-Benz Canada in fact the largest new car dealer in the country. This unique combination of corporate stores and an extremely supportive private dealer network has proven very successful and constantly helps us understand how to best serve the needs of our customers. We remain steadfastly committed to investing in facilities, and will continue to develop and improve processes to provide an unparalleled ownership experience."
Breitschwerdt continued, "Our 2010 record-breaking results and strong profitability can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of each and every corporate and dealership employee, the strength of our network and our extremely compelling vehicle portfolio. This powerful combination is the reason why Mercedes-Benz is the luxury leader in Canada. I want to say a big 'Thank You' to all of our customers and employees."
About Mercedes-Benz Canada
Mercedes-Benz Canada is responsible for the sales, marketing and service of the four brands within the Mercedes-Benz Group in Canada: Mercedes-Benz, smart, AMG, and Maybach. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc. employs approximately 1,250 people in 19 locations across Canada. Through a nationwide network of 14 Mercedes-Benz owned retail operations and 39 authorized dealerships, Mercedes-Benz Canada sold 31,651 vehicles in 2010, the best year ever reported for Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc.
To view this news release in HTML formatting, please use the following URL: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/a.../04/c8586.html
SOURCE: Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc.
SOURCE: Auto Sales

Automobile sales in Brazil reached record high for the fourth consecutive year in 2010, as the country is expected to witness the fastest growth in more than two decades.

Brazil’s auto sales increased by 11.9 percent to 3.515 million units in 2010 compared with the previous year, said the National Motor Vehicle Distribution Federation (Fenabrave) on Wednesday.
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The sales of cars and light commercial vehicles stood at 3.329 million units, up 10.6 percent from 2009.

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While the sales of buses went up by 25.3 percent, truck sales increased 44.4 percent. Motorbike sales rose 12.1 percent to 1.8 million units.

Italian automaker Fiat remained as the market leader with sales at 760,474 units in 2010. Its market share was 22.84 percent.

Volkswagen sold 697,342 units with a market share of 697,342 units. General Motors stood at third position with sales of 657,622 units. Ford sold 336,309 units occupying the fourth place.

Volvo Cars of North America, LLC, (VCNA) reported U.S. sales of 4,756 units, a 15.6 percent decrease from December 2009. For the year, U.S. sales are down 12.2 percent with a total of 53,948 units sold.

In Canada, Volvo sales were down 28.3 percent in December with a total of 448 vehicles sold. Year-to-date sales are up 0.1 percent in Canada.

This year, the XC60 was the strongest seller in both countries, with the U.S. posting 12,030 units, a 29.9 percent increase from 2009, and Canada selling 1,540 units, a 27.2 percent increase year-over-year. The XC70 in the U.S. also saw an increase of 13.8 percent over 2009 with 6,626 units sold (versus 5,825). In Canada, the S80 and C30 finished the year with sales gains, the S80 posting a 44.4 percent increase, while the C30 saw a 55.2 percent increase.

New Volvo buyers benefit from Volvo's Safe + Secure Coverage Plan. A complimentary program, Safe + Secure wraps a comprehensive list of benefits into one package. Volvo has combined additional time and mileage limits on warranty repairs and roadside assistance coverage, and has increased wear-item and factory scheduled maintenance coverage. Specifically, it provides:

5 years/60,000 miles of New Car Warranty
5 years/60,000 miles of Complimentary Factory Scheduled Maintenance
5 years/60,000 miles of Wear and Tear Coverage
5 years/Unlimited miles of Volvo On Call Roadside Assistance.

Volvo Cars of North America, LLC, (www.volvocars.com/us) is a subsidiary of Volvo Car Corporation of Gothenburg, Sweden. VCNA provides marketing, sales, parts, service, technology and training support to Volvo automobile retailers in the United States, and oversees Volvo operations in Canada.