Mercedes-Benz sales dip, but electric cars and vans deliver much-needed boost

Mercedes-Benz had a tough third quarter this year, with overall vehicle sales taking a hit in key markets, with the German automaker reporting total sales of 525,300 cars and vans. But, hiding in those falling numbers, there's a much more optimistic story about the growing appetite for its electric cars and commercial EVs.

The passenger car division,Mercedes-Benz Cars, sold 441,500 units in the third quarter. This was mainly due to a difficult market in China, where sales dropped by 27% compared to the same period last year. The North American market also saw a 17% decline. The company said it was carefully managing inventory levels in the United States to navigate the new tariff policies. There was positive movement in Europe, though, with sales climbing by 2%. The real bright spot, however, was in the electric vehicle segment.

Sales of battery electric vehicles saw a 22% increase over the second quarter of 2025, reaching 42,600 units. Much of this momentum is credited to the first deliveries of the newelectric CLAin Europe. Alongside fully electric models, plug-in hybrids also proved popular, with sales jumping by 20%. When combined, sales of electrified vehicles reached 96,300 units for the quarter, a 10% rise from the previous year, and nearly 22% of all passenger cars sold.

The true star of the quarter was the Mercedes-Benz Vans division which sold a total of 83,800 vans, and of those, 8,600 were all-electric. That's a 96% increase in electric van sales compared to the third quarter of 2024. For the year so far, Mercedes-Benz has sold 20,200 eVans, a 61% jump from the same period last year. In Europe, electric models accounted for 14% of all van sales in the quarter.

Even as overall sales numbers dipped, the company's most expensive models continued to find buyers. The sales in the "Top-End" category (Mercedes-AMG, Maybach, G-Class, and S-Class) climbed by 10% year-over-year to 67,800 units, suggesting that even when the broader market is facing trouble, demand for luxury and high-performance vehicles is as strong as ever. The S-Class family, for example, saw its sales rise by 9% compared to last year, with the ultra-luxurious Mercedes-Maybach models making up a third of all S-Class sales globally.

Mercedes-Benz is in the middle of what it calls its biggest product launch campaign ever, with several new EVs on the horizon. An all-electric version of the popularGLC SUVis coming in early 2026, and will be followed by an electric C-Class, both building on the momentum created by the electric CLA. The plan is clear: even when traditional markets falter, the future, at least for Mercedes-Benz, appears to be electric.

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