BERLIN, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Retail unit sales of Daimler's brand Mercedes-Benz dropped by 24.6 percent year-on-year to 464,130 units worldwide in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021, the German carmaker said Friday.
Mercedes-Benz Cars delivered almost 2.1 million vehicles, a decrease of 5 percent, between January and December, 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," the company said.
Deliveries of electric Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and plug-in hybrid models on the other hand surged by 69.3 percent and reached a record of 227,458 units, according to the German carmaker.
In Europe, sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars dropped by 11.2 percent to 696,136 units in 2021, while sales in the North America region rose slightly to 318,456 units. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region fell by 1.6 percent to 1.01 million, reaching 758,863 units in China.
Deliveries of the flagship model S-Class rose by 40 percent to 87,064 units, with sales in China accounting for 35.5 percent of global demand. Sales of luxury brand Maybach increased by more than 50 percent and were "boosted by China where Mercedes-Maybach cars are selling at a rate of more than 900 a month."
Sales of commercial vans rose 2.6 percent to 334,210 units in 2021, thanks to strong demand in the first half of 2021 and from China and the United States in particular where sales rose 11.3 and 4.8 percent respectively, according to Daimler.
"In 2021 we were able to achieve a remarkable result for Mercedes-Benz Vans despite the impact from several pandemic-induced challenges," said Klaus Rehkugler, head of marketing and sales at Mercedes-Benz Vans. ■