Sales by Daimler's city car Smart ran rings around luxury Mercedes models in October, though the luxury car maker still showed an overall annual drop of 18 percent, the group said on November 7.
Smart, a brand which was almost abandoned owing to weak sales a few years ago, posted an October increase of 6.5 percent to 11,300 vehicles, while Mercedes sales plunged by 21 percent to 82,500 vehicles, a statement said.
Since January, sales of the small Smart city car have increased by 41 percent while those of Mercedes models have fallen by 1.7 percent. On many leading auto markets sales of big, heavy-fuel consuming vehicles have slumped in the last 12 months in response to a surge in fuel prices and to increasing awareness of environmental issues. And in the last few months, auto sales generally have been hit by dark prospects for economies and consumers.
Sales by rival BMW meanwhile fell by more than eight percent in October, with emerging markets failing to compensate for weak results in western Europe, the company said in a separate statement.
A total of 113,000 vehicles were sold in the month, 8.3 percent fewer than in October 2007, a statement said. BMW's eponymous brand suffered the most, posting an annual drop of nine percent, while the Mini brand held up somewhat better, though it showed a fall of 3.4 percent. Sales of Rolls-Royce limousines gained 10 percent, on the other hand. Sales in Japan plummeted by 29 percent, in western Europe by 12 percent and in the United States by five percent, the company said. In Germany, the fall was less pronounced at 0.2 percent. In Russia, sales nonetheless grew by 40 percent, in China by 36 percent and in India by 10 percent. BMW said this week that it would no longer give an outlook for 2008, and no longer expected overall sales to increase this year.
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