Mercedes-Benz hits exciting goal with S-Class
For decades the S-Class has repeatedly been the world’s top-selling luxury sedan, and it is taking that spot again as Mercedes-Benz has delivered over 100 000 S-Class models since its market launch a year ago. Never before have so many vehicles of the luxury sedan been delivered to customers in the first year of full availability. As such, to date this constitutes the most successful market launch of an S-Class.
The new-generation S-Class is, however, not only making history with the most successful market launch, but also with the fastest market launch: within less than twelve weeks the S-Class went on sale in all three core markets: Germany (end of July 2013), China (end of September 2013) and the USA (mid-October 2013).
Since the start of the year Mercedes-Benz has sold 75,391 S-Class models, twice as many as in the same period of the previous year (+105.8%). Thus more S-Class vehicles have been delivered to customers within the nine months of 2014 than in the full years 2012 or 2013. In September alone, the luxury sedan was sold 9,501 times (+139.3%).
Mercedes-Benz delivers almost every second S-Class to customers in China, the model’s largest market. One quarter of all S-Classes are sold in the USA; one in ten sedans goes to a customer in Germany. A country comparison reveals that the youngest S-Class customers are located in China: in their early 40s, they are on average 15 years younger than in Western Europe or the USA.
The new S-Class will be available in six variants altogether. In addition to the short and long-wheelbase version, the S-Class coupe was launched on 27 September. Three other exclusive derivatives are set to follow. A plug-in hybrid variant of the S-Class also went on sale at the end of September. Following the S 400 Hybrid and the S 300 BlueTec Hybrid, the S 500 Plug-In Hybrid is therefore the third hybrid model in the new S-Class. The series production launch of this technology began at Mercedes-Benz in 2009. By 2017, Mercedes-Benz aims to launch nine further plug-in hybrid models.