Mercedes sales declined in second quarter

Mercedes-Benz sales declined sharply in the second quarter, due to supply problems and coronavirus lockdowns in China, the automaker said.

The automaker made deliveries of 490,000 passenger cars from April to June, a decline of 16% from the same period last year.

For the first half of this year, its cars division saw a 16% decline in sales, for a total of 998,000 deliveries.

Second-quarter sales declined the most in China, the most important single market, declining 25% to 163,700 vehicles, the automaker said.

However, the automaker is sticking with its 2022 forecast for a slight boost in sales compared with 2021, said a spokesperson. Regardless of concerns about increasing inflation, “customer demand remains high”, sales director Britta Seeger said.