Wednesday 11 January 2012

MERCEDES-BENZ LEAVES RIVALS IN THE DARK

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 Unfortunately there won’t be anything from Mercedes-Benz South Africa because the company has withdrawn from reporting its sales figures for the time being.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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