Mercedes-Benz Is Still The World's Largest Luxury Automaker

BMW scored a major win in 2019 when for the first time since 2015, it sold more cars in the United States than Mercedes-Benz, reclaiming the luxury sales crown in the market. The sales race in the US was won by just 8,826 cars but if commercial vans were factored into the equation, Mercedes would have actually been victorious. Mercedes likely wasn't pleased with the result but if you take a look at the company's global sales, it has plenty to celebrate.

Though BMW scored the win in the US market, Mercedes-Benz still retains the title of the world's largest luxury automaker by a wide margin. In fact, Mercedes delivered 2,339,562 vehicles in 2019, setting the highest sales volume in the company's history in a year when many automakers experienced a decline. This is now the fourth time since 2016 that Mercedes claimed the title as the world's largest luxury automaker and it is now the ninth year in a row that the company has broken its own sales record.

All three of Mercedes' biggest markets - China, Germany, and the USA - experienced growth in 2019. China was the company's biggest market with 693,443 units, a 6.2 percent increase over 2018.

"The ninth consecutive record year underscores once more the strong demand for Mercedes-Benz vehicles, even amidst far-reaching changes in the mobility landscape. In addition, Mercedes-Benz continues to be clearly the number one in the luxury market - this proves how valuable our brand is," said Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG.

Lead by the Mercedes-Benz GLC, one in every three cars the company sold in 2019 was an SUV. The GLA, GLB, GLC, GLC Coupe, and EQC combined for around 783,700 units and even the flagship G-Class posted record sales of 34,912 units, an increase of more than sixty percent.