Mercedes Malaysia on track for another record year

The Mercedes-Benz logo is seen on a Mercedes-Benz F125 concept car that is electrically powered by a hydrogen fuel cell at the Hannover Fair in Hanover, Germany, April 25, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/Files

KUALA LUMPUR: Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Sdn Bhd (MBM) expects the second half of 2017 to remain positive and is optimistic it is on track for yet another record year.

MBM president and chief executive officer Dr Claus Weidner said the carmaker rounded up the first half of 2017 with a solid performance across-the-board, with sales of 5,913 units, driven by strong demand for the locally-produced Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

"With our customer-centric strategy and strong locally-produced products, MBM should be on track for another record year in 2017," he told reporters during a briefing on the company's first-half performance in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

He said the company was optimistic sales in 2017 would surpass last year's record of 11,779 cars.

"We ended 1H with a new best-ever month in June, further extending our lead in the premium segment with market share of 2.3 per cent," he said.

MBM sales and marketing vice-president, Mark Raine, said the Mercedes-Benz C-Class model topped the first-half sales with 2,075 units sold, closely followed by the E-Class (1,358 units), SUVs (1,233 units), compact cars (739 units) and S-Class (230 units), while sales of Mercedes-Benz Dream Cars totalled 268 units.

The company had launched three models during the first half - the completely knocked-down (CKD) E-Class, the GLA facelift and the AMG line-up.

The much-awaited final launch for this year would be the locally-assembled E-Class 'plug-in-hybrid', slated for the third quarter, and is expected to be the main driver for MBM's race to achieve another record year in 2017.

To-date, MBM has 31 dealerships nationwide and is the leading car financier in the country with over RM2 billion service portfolio, financing four of 10 Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold. - Bernama