C-Class sales soar to half a million

“The C-Class sedan has maintained its position as the worldwide market leader in its segment since the beginning of the year,” says Dr. Klaus Maier, Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing Mercedes-Benz Cars in Stuttgart. “Sales of the new estate continue to increase as well. In the first year after its market launch, sales of the estate are 20% higher than the figure recorded for the predecessor model during the same period.”

Around 440,000 new C-Class sedans have been sold since the model's market launch and over 60,000 customers have taken delivery of the latest estate version.

Internationally the most popular engine for the new C-Class is the C 220 CDI, which is the choice of a third of all sedan customers.

The same engine has been chosen by almost half of the estate model's customers.

Also popular is the C 200 Kompressor, which is ordered by 20% of all C-Class sedan customers.

C-Class sedans are produced at Mercedes-Benz plants in Sindelfingen, Bremen, East London (South Africa) and in Beijing.

The C-Class estate is manufactured exclusively at the Bremen plant.

Germany is the biggest buyer of the new C-Class models. The second most important market, with an approximately 20% share of worldwide sales, is the US, which is followed by the UK, Italy, and South Africa.

In South Africa Eckart Mayer, Divisional Manager, Mercedes-Benz Cars, said: “In August we manufactured the 20,000th C-Class, exactly a year since its launch.

“As of October 2008 our East London plant has produced more than 22,000 new C-Class units for the local market and close on 35,000 left-hand-drive units for export.”

“We are also celebrating another local milestone - 60 Years of Manufacturing Excellence in South Africa. We have, over these years, invested substantially in plant, equipment and people, contributing to the creation of jobs and playing a key role in downstream automotive development.

He said the manufacturing plant, which builds Mercedes-Benz C-Class for the local market and left-hand-drive units for the American market, as well as the Mitsubishi Triton range of bakkies, plus commercial vehicles and buses, continued to receive recognition.

This year, for the second consecutive year, JD Power and Synovate recognised the plant with an award for its levels of technology and quality.