DaimlerChrysler's Global Mercedes June Sales Rise 6.4% on New Vehicles

July 6 (Bloomberg) STRUTTGART GERMANY -- DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes Car Group, the world's second-largest luxury carmaker, said worldwide June sales rose 6.4 percent on new models such as the Mercedes- Benz M-Class sport-utility vehicle and S-Class sedan.

Sales by the group's Mercedes-Benz, Smart and Maybach brands increased to 118,800 vehicles, the Stuttgart, Germany-based company said in an e-mailed statement. First-half group sales rose 8.7 percent from a year earlier to 627,300 units.

``Based on the positive development, we now expect higher sales for the Mercedes-Benz brand in 2006 than last year,'' Klaus Maier, who's responsible for sales and marketing at Mercedes, said in the statement.

Mercedes has revamped its lineup as competition picks up from Volkswagen AG's Audi division and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus brand. Mercedes in 2005 introduced updated versions of the M- Class and S-Class and added the all-new R-Class and B-Class models, which both mix features of minivans and station wagons.

Munich-based Bayerische Motoren Werke AG overtook Mercedes- Benz unit as the world's biggest luxury-vehicle maker in March 2005 helped by models. Sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles rose 8.9 percent to 106,200 in June and increased 13 percent to 565,300 for the first half. BMW reports sales results tomorrow.

Sales by Mercedes-Benz are growing fastest in the U.S. The company sold 20,800 cars and SUVs in the world's biggest car market last month, a 14 percent increase. Sales rose 6.8 percent in Asia and increased 0.6 percent in Germany.

In Western Europe excluding Germany, the company sold 43,600 cars, a 6 percent gain.
Sales of the Smart small car declined 11 percent last month to 12,600 units. For the first half, sales at the brand slumped 20 percent to 62,000 cars. The company is phasing out the four- door ForFour model after cutting the roadster version and plans to focus only on the two-seat ForTwo. To contact the reporter on this story:

Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at jvanloon@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 6, 2006 07:50 EDT