Mercedes-Benz Middle East & Levant has recorded a rising trend in its luxury passenger car and SUV sales last month with deliveries in June up six per cent compared to the same month last year.

Distributors delivered a total of 1317 passenger cars and SUVs compared to 1,258 in June 2009.

Year to date deliveries are up five per cent compared to 2009 due to increased sales of the segment leading C-Class and E-Class. The E-Class also added a new Business version last month which, priced at $73,000, is attracting a lot of interest, a statement said.

“Our AMG package for the C-Class is helping us retain our segment lead against strong competition from our German and Japanese competitors while the E-Class, launched in the region just over a year ago, is taking the market by storm, particularly in Lebanon where our coupe and cabrio versions are proving highly popular,” said Frank Bernthaler, director, sales and marketing, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Middle East & Levant.

Bernthaler added that the German car company’s SUV deliveries also looked positive and that he was convinced that Mercedes-Benz could increase its market share with the introduction of the surprisingly affordable Grand editions of the seven-seater GL and ML Classes in the nest three months.

Last month, Mercedes-Benz worldwide recorded the best month of June in the history of the company with 113,300 units delivered (2009: 100,300), sales increased 13 percent, surpassing expectations, the statement said.

In the first half of the year, sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars were up 15 per cent compared to the result in the same period last year, with 556,700 vehicles (2009: 483,300) handed over to customers. – TradeArabia News Service