Mercedes reclaims pole position in luxury stakes

Mercedes Benz has reclaimed top spot in the luxury vehicles sales stakes, selling close to 2.1 million cars worldwide in 2016.

The German luxury car manufacturer not only beat other brands, but significantly beat rival BMW, recovering top sales spot lost in 2005.

This is the first time that the Stuttgart-based manufacturer has sold more than two million cars in a year.

Chief executive officer (CEO) of parent company Daimler, Dieter Zetsche, credits remarkable growth in the Chinese and European markets for its current success.

Sales in China grew by 26.6%, while sales in Europe grew by 12.4%. Daimler also saw record sales for its Smart compact car, selling 144 500 vehicles globally, a 21% increase on 2015’s figures.

With BMW still to release their report, figures for the first 11 months of 2016 show 1.8 million vehicles sold worldwide, which is significantly lower than Mercedes’ figures.

Audi, Volkswagen’s luxury brand took third place, selling 1.87 million vehicles. This was a 3.8% increase on 2015’s figures.

However, Audi’s figures may have been affected by the ‘dieselgate’ scandal, which saw Volkswagen admit to adding devices – to 11 million vehicles worldwide – designed to cheat emissions regulation testing.

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