New Sales Record for Mercedes-Benz Vans in 2007
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Unit sales up in almost all markets in 2007
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Record sales of the Vito / Viano and Sprinter
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Vario continued to show a very high level of sales
Stuttgart - Daimler AG ended 2007 very successfully with a new sales record, having sold 289,076 vans worldwide (2006: 256,895 units). Sales in Germany amounted to 71,262 units (2006: 67,309 units).
Almost all the markets contributed to this new sales record in 2007, and all products contributed high sales levels to produce this result.
The largest increase - by 179% to 165,900 units - was achieved by the new Sprinter, which is produced in the German auto-maker’s Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde plants. The reasons for this large increase were a high level of demand and the achievement of full production capacity following the new model changeover in 2006.
The models in the Vito / Viano series also attracted more buyers than ever before, with worldwide sales of 99,270 units (2006: 94,051 units). This also set a new production record, with an increase of almost 6 % versus the previous year. Sales of the Viano were particularly gratifying, with an increase of almost 18 %.
5291 units of the Vario were sold in 2007 (2006: 4706 units), representing the highest sales figure for the Vario in six years. This underlines the continuing popularity of this product from Ludwigsfelde.
Current estimates indicate that demand in the van sector will continue to be lively in 2008, though it should be noted that conditions in the year 2007 were unusually favourable for all manufacturers owing to the start of an economic upturn and the introduction of new models. Once again the Sprinter, which is now available in all markets, will make the largest contribution to unit sales. In 2008 a new variant of the Sprinter with an environmentally friendly natural gas drive will be launched in Europe.