SUVs now account for 41 percent of Mercedes-Benz global sales, GLC most popular

Would you be surprised with the headline? Of course not. It’s just the way things are these days, whether you like it or not. Two out of five (or 40 percent) of Mercedes-Benz cars sold globally are SUV models.

Mercedes-Benz sold 2,164,187 cars in 2020 (down 10.3 percent). The figure includes 38,391 units of Smart models, but excluding commercial vans (325,771 units) and trucks.

The commercial trucks division has since been spun off as a separate company, Daimler Truck AG, but it is still parked under parent company Daimler AG. The cars and commercial vans business is now parked under Mercedes-Benz AG.

The combined Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans business unit of Mercedes-Benz AG sold a total of 2,528,349 vehicles in year 2020.

Out of the 2,164,187 cars sold by Mercedes-Benz AG in 2020, about 885,000 units (about 41 percent) were contributed by SUVs. Models include the GLA, GLB, GLC, GLC Coupe, EQC, GLE, GLE Coupe, GLS and G-Class.

The most popular Mercedes-Benz SUV model is the GLC, accounting for about 320,000 units, or about 37 percent of SUV sales.

However in terms of growth, it was the GLE (up 32.3 percent) and GLS (up 21.1 percent) that showed the most potential.

The compact cars range, which includes not just the A-Class (hatchback and sedan), B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake but also SUV models like the GLA and GLB, contributes about 691,000 units (about 32 percent) of the company’s total sales last year.

Compared to 2019, sales Mercedes-Benz cars (including Smart) in 2020 were down by 10.3 percent. Sales were weighed down by poor market conditions in Europe (784,183 units, down 16.4 percent) and North America (317,592 units, down 14.7 percent), but positive growth in Asia (1,024,315 units, up 4.7 percent), notably China (774,382 units, up 11.7 percent) offered some respite.

China, Germany USA, UK, and South Korea made up the top 5 biggest markets for Mercedes-Benz, in that order.