Sometime later today we’ll publish sales figures of the top-selling cars in Mzansi, as we do every month. Unfortunately there won’t be anything
from Mercedes-Benz South Africa
because the company has withdrawn
from reporting its sales figures for the time being.
The move is in line with a directive that came from MBSA’s
parent Daimler AG in Germany. It relates
to the fact that Daimler AG is one
of the European truck manufacturers
currently under investigation in the
European Union Competition Union
concerning allegations of anti-competitive
practices among them. Some of those named in the investigation also include Volvo Trucks, Scania and MAN among
others.
Effectively then sales figures from South Africa will be
even more inaccurate than they already are. At the moment the two brothers Kia,
Hyundai (locally distributed by Imperial), and the Chinese importers do not tell anyone but the Department of Trade
and Industry about how many cars they sell. Yet so good are their joint sales that
they are suspected to be among the
top 3 behind Toyota and Volkswagen. Sadly
we don’t know exactly what those sales are. And now neither will Audi, BMW,
Jaguar/ Land Rover and Volvo SA know what Mercedes-Benz is selling.
Merc builds the C-Class in East London in the Eastern Cape. It also builds Mercedes-Benz
commercial vehicles and buses, FUSO
trucks, as well as assembles Freightliner
trucks, a leading American brand.
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