Daimler: Mercedes-Benz sales down 15% in first quarter

(CercleFinance.com) - Mercedes-Benz saw its global sales drop by almost 15% in the first quarter, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and temporary closures of its retail businesses, the luxury division's parent company Daimler said on Thursday.


The Mercedes-Benz brand sold 477,400 cars over the first three months of the year, the carmaker said in a statement this morning.

After a "good start to the year" in January, the onset of the pandemic in Europe and the US, coupled with the closures of retail businesses had a significant impact on vehicle sales in March, it said.

In Europe, vehicle sales fell 15.9% to 188,963 units in the past quarter, while China - its second largest market - saw sales decline over 20% to 138,960 units.

In all, the Mercedes-Benz cars and vans divisions sold a total of 547,829 units in the first quarter, Daimler said.

The report, however, was well received by investors, as the Daimler stock traded 2.8% higher in Frankfurt on Thursday morning.

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