OREANDA-NEWS. This is the third consecutive year that Mercedes-Benz has significantly outperformed the production records from previous years. Annual production of the brand with the star will rise to more than 1.49 million vehicles in 2013. Due to the excellent development of unit sales, the plants are working at high capacity utilization in 2013. As in the previous year, production will stop only briefly at the turn of the year.

Andreas Renschler, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Manufacturing and Procurement Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans: "With this production record, Mercedes-Benz is setting yet another benchmark. This attests to the good customer response to our products. We will continue to grow with our attractive offering of models -- and will be able to accommodate the demand thanks to our high flexibility and the quality of the team."

Thanks to the high customer demand, the Mercedes-Benz production network is working at high capacity utilization this year. From January to November 2013, Mercedes-Benz has already sold 1,322,500 passenger cars (+10.7%), and has reached the previous year's sales volume already.

The excellent customer response to the new models has contributed significantly to this success – for example with deliveries of 336,981 compact cars (+67.2%) to customers since January. The performance of the new S-Class, which has been available in Europe since the end of July, in China since the end of September, and in the USA since mid-October, has been particularly successful. Mercedes-Benz has thus launched its flagship model in the top three S-Class markets in less than twelve weeks. This makes the launch of the S-Class the fastest market launch in the company's history. This was only possible because the production of the luxury sedan was ramped up in record time in its home plant of Sindelfingen. With a total of 7,617 sedan deliveries in November, the S-Class is already back at the top of the worldwide registrations in its segment just a few weeks after the model change. In its most important market of China, it was additionally awarded the coveted title of "Car of the Year".

Besides the A-Class, the compact models of the B-Class and CLA-Class are still selling particularly well. In the month of November, 33,382 customers opted for the compact class (+53.8%). In addition, the unit sales of the new models in the E-Class segment also increased strongly. The sedan and the estate alone posted an increase of 19.0%. The sales of the new coupe and convertible jumped by one third. The SUVs from Mercedes-Benz continue to be in strong demand. Since January 2013, more than a quarter million SUVs were delivered to customers, or 14.4% more than in the previous year.