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Mercedes-Benz’s global passenger car deliveries were affected relatively lightly by 2022’s headwinds such as the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 measures and supply chain bottlenecks.
The automaker’s worldwide passenger car sales fell just 1 percent to 2.05 million last year, Mercedes said on Tuesday.
The only key region to see a year-on-year fall in sales was China, with a 1 percent drop. Europe and North America saw 1 percent and 3 percent growth, respectively.
In Mercedes’ other global markets, volume plunged 27 percent, largely due to the carmaker suspending operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
Entry-level vehicles, the lowest price segment, fell 10 percent in 2022, primarily due to supply chain bottlenecks. Full-electric variants of the A- and B-Class made up 10 percent of all sales, Mercedes said, double the percentage in 2021.
Sales of Mercedes’ full-electric cars grew 124 percent in 2022 to 117,800.
CEO Ola Kallenius is focusing on higher-margin cars such as the Maybach, and de-emphasizing ”entry luxury” A- and B-Class models.
Demand for the high-end Maybach vehicles was particularly strong, with 2022 sales up 37 percent year-on-year driven by higher sales in China, Japan, Korea and the Middle East.
Fourth-quarter sales rose 17 percent as logistics and parts bottlenecks eased.
Rival BMW Group delivered just under 2.4 million vehicles in 2022, down 4.8 percent from the year before, with BMW brand sales down 5.1 percent to 2.1 million as bottlenecks caused by lockdowns in China as well as the war in Ukraine dampened deliveries.
Mercedes-Benz vans, now a separate division from passenger cars, recorded full-year sales growth of 4 percent to 411,000 units. Of that number, 14,700 were full-electric, Mercedes said, a 15 percent increase.
Sales in North America were up 20 percent, with a total of 73,800 Sprinter and Metris vans delivered. Sales in Germany, the largest single market, were up 15 percent to 113,200.
Van sales in the fourth quarter were particularly strong, with an overall gain of 14 percent to 121,500 units, Mercedes said.
Reuters contributed to this report