U.S., BRIC markets offset falling sales in Europe for Mercedes

Sales of Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Cars rose 7.4 percent to 118,931 vehicles in May, the automaker said Monday.

According to KHABAR KHODRO, Strong growth in Brazil, China and India, and a modest rise in the United States, helped the automaker offset a sales decline in Europe, including its German home market.

Global sales for Mercedes-Benz brand in May were 108,766 units, a rise of 7.3 percent and a new record for May sales. Smart deliveries rose 8.6 percent to 10,165 units last month.

The strong sales continued to be led by demand for luxury cars in emerging markets such as China, Brazil, India and Russia.

"The upswing we've experienced in recent months continued in May with a new sales record. Once again, growth was in particular driven by the BRIC countries. We achieved high growth rates in all of them, " Mercedes sales chief, Joachim Schmidt, said in a statement.

Mercedes-Benz sales in May rose 60 percent in Brazil, while India and Russia both saw strong growth with an increase of 40 percent and 49 percent respectively, Mercedes said.

Sales in China, including Hong Kong, jumped 43 percent to 16,401 units. In the U.S., Mercedes-Benz sales edged up 1.8 percent to 18,866 units.

In its German home market, the automaker sold 22,647 cars in May, a fall of 0.2 percent. Overall in western Europe, sales of Mercedes cars fell 1.6 percent last month to 50,355 units.

Sales for the first five months of the year were 490,021 units for Mercedes, a rise of 10.5 percent over 2010 figures and 44,487 for Smart, a rise of 8.1 percent. Overall sales for Mercedes-Benz Cars between January and May totaled 534,508 units, a rise of 10.3 percent.