With the worst of the pandemic's effects on the automotive industry hopefully behind us, the leading automakers would have been hoping for a much more positive start to 2021. Mercedes-Benz is one of those brands and it has just released its Q1 sales figures for the North American market. Overall, Mercedes-Benz sold 89,915 passenger vehicles and vans in the first three months of the year, representing a year-on-year increase of 19.5 percent. Unsurprisingly, the GLC-Class and GLE-Class luxury SUVs were once again the best-selling models in the automaker's lineup. Mercedes sold 78,256 passenger vehicles, better than BMW's total of 71,433 units in the same period.

That news will be music to the ears of Mercedes after BMW once again emerged as the best-selling premium automaker in America in 2020. In terms of individual models, the best-selling Mercedes model in Q1 was the GLE with 16,668 units sold, up 41.2% year-on-year. It was followed by the GLC which sold 15,569 units, up 18.9%. The two SUVs have evidently switched places with the GLC selling more in Q1 2020. The E-Class - which was comprehensively updated last year - combined with the CLS to sell 8,199 units, just ahead of the C-Class with 7,696. The discontinued SLC was the lowest-selling Mercedes with 198 units, followed by the SL on 311 and the S-Class on 1,043.

S-Class sales were down by 55.9% year-on-year but this is little surprise as Mercedes gets ready to transition over to the all-new S-Class with its jaw-dropping interior.

"Mercedes-Benz is off to a strong start, backed by strong demand for our model lineup and supported by the outstanding commitment of our dealer partners to deliver for our customers," said Dimitris Psillakis, CEO and President of MBUSA. He pointed to the launch of flagship models like the new S-Class, EQS, and S-Class Maybach as exciting upcoming additions to the range. Mercedes will be hoping to maintain this momentum and hopefully steal the luxury sales crown back from BMW.