Mercedes-Benz Cars Sold About 59,000 Plug-Ins In Q1 2021

That's about 10% of the total volume and in Europe it's already above 25%!

By: Mark Kane

Apr 13, 2021 at 6:13am ET

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Mercedes-Benz Cars (Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and smart brands) reports strong increase in car sales in the first quarter of 2021 - by 22.3% year-over-year to 590,999 - driven by China and US retail sales as well as strong demand for plug-ins.

The global plug-in electric car sales increased to about 59,000, including more than 16,000 all-electric and around 43,000 plug-in hybrids. That's actually not far from over 70,000 plug-ins sold by BMW and MINI.

The share of plug-ins out of the total volume is about 10%, but in Europe, specifically, it's more than 25%!

Mercedes-Benz brand sales

Mercedes-Benz car sales in Q1 2021 amounted to 581,270 (up 21.8% year-over-year). We assume that close to 50,000 were plug-ins (mostly plug-in hybrids, and mostly in Europe).

Mercedes-Benz EQC

Mercedes-Benz EQV (2020)

smart brand sales

The smart brand sold 9,729 cars (65.9% more than a year ago). We assume that most of the sales were all-electric (at least in Europe the brand is fully electric).

Sales are especially strong in Germany:

"At the smart brand, global unit sales totalled 9,729 two- and four-door urban microcars - a strong growth of 65.9% due to the high demand in Germany for all-electric vehicles."

2020 smart EQ fortwo (Coupé)

2020 smart EQ forfour

Mercedes-Benz Vans sales

Mercedes-Benz Vans, the business unit for commercial models, notes 76,328 sales (up 18.2% year-over-year).

About 1,200 of those vans were electrified (up 150% year-over-year) - read eVito and eSprinter - which would translate to a share of just over 1.5%. Clearly this segment is lagging behind the passenger cars.

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Marcus Breitschwerdt, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans said:

“With almost 1,200 electrified vans sold in the first quarter, we exceeded last year's result by around 150% in the same period. This underlines our strategic aim of ‘lead in electrive drive’. In the second half of this year, we will bring the new Citan to market, followed by its electric version next year. This will make us a provider of electric vans in every segment.”