Demand for Mercedes-Benz vehicles remained high in 2021, with Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars delivering a total of 227,458 electric cars and plug-in hybrids in 2021 – 69.3% more than in the previous year. While the majority of vehicles were plug-in hybrids, including Smart and Mercedes-Benz Vans, a total of 99,301 battery-electric vehicles (BEV) were also delivered.
Deliveries of Mercedes-Benz plug-in hybrid and electric passenger cars together reached a record 227,458 units (+69.3%), of which 48,936 were Mercedes-EQ battery-electric passenger cars (+154.8%). Including smart and Mercedes-Benz Vans, total BEV sales rose above 99,000 units.
Since the EQS went on sale in August 2021, orders for the electric flagship reached 16,370. The retail launch in the two largest markets – the United States and China – started in December, providing a further boost to customer orders. In 2020 as a whole, there were 48,700 battery-electric cars across all Group brands, including Smart and Vans. With the 99,301 BEVs, Daimler has virtually doubled its sales of BEVs.
The news from Mercedes comes after an impressive year for sales of plug-in vehicles in the UK. Indeed, 2021 saw the largest-ever annual increase in the number of plug-in registrations, which grew by 74% on 2020. Last year saw 130,000 additional plug-in vehicles sold compared with the number in 2020.
Overall, Mercedes-Benz Cars delivered 2,093,476 vehicles (-5.0%) between January and December 2021, as a lack of semiconductors delayed the supply of vehicles despite strong demand for passenger cars and vans in all segments and across all regions. As a result, sales in the fourth quarter decreased by -24.7%.
“In a challenging year, Maybach, AMG and G-Class vehicles posted new records,” said Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG responsible for Marketing and Sales.
“Order intake for the EQS, the longest-range EV on the market today, is very encouraging and production of the first all-electric AMG kicked off in December, starting a new chapter for our electric flagship. This strong global demand for all our brands gives Mercedes-Benz the tailwinds to accelerate into a new electric era.”
It’s not only demand for electric vehicles that is encouraging, however. Those who make the switch to electric are overwhelmingly happy with their decision, as a new Zap-Map poll shows. The poll demonstrates high satisfaction among EV drivers, who are also increasingly confident about driving long distances.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz is making every effort to ensure that surging customer orders can be fulfilled as soon as possible. The date when a customer placed an order is taken into consideration when scarce chips are allocated for vehicle production. The semiconductor supply situation remains volatile and the shortage is expected to impact upcoming quarters in terms of production and sales.
