Auto sales were strong in the United States throughout 2015, but the same result is not expected globally. IHS on Friday forecast global sales growth of just 1.5% year over year, the slowest rate since 2010. There are some exceptions, however.
Daimler, makers of Mercedes-Benz and smart vehicles, said Friday that the company sold 1.87 million M-B vehicles in 2015, up 13.4% year over year, the most in the brand’s history. Perhaps even better news for the German carmaker is that sales in China, including Hong Kong, were better than sales in any other country with 386,634 units sold, up 29.1% year over year. Sales in the United States totaled 350,548 and German sales rang in with 309,989, up 2.9% and 9.8%, respectively.
Sport utility vehicle (SUV) sales rose 26.6% for the year, and sales of the company’s C-class cars rose 34.2%. Sales of E-class cars fell nearly 11%. Daimler noted that a new GLS model SUV will arrive at dealerships in March of this year, and an all-new E-class will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show this week.
As for Audi, a brand owned by Volkswagen Group, global sales rose 3.6% year over year in 2015 to 1.8 million vehicles. U.S. sales rose 11.1% year over year to 202,202 units, while sales in Germany rose 5.7% to 270,063. All three totals are the highest ever for the Audi brand.
The highest growth rate came in Brazil, up nearly 39% from a very low base, while sales in China fell 1.4% to 570,889 units. Audi noted that a new model A4 and an all-new Q7 will appear in overseas markets later this year. Sales of the company’s SUVs rose 6% in 2015 and Audi’s TT compact sports car posted a sales gain of 87% to 29,950 units worldwide.
The IHS forecast for 2016 calls for new vehicle sales of 89.8 million units compared with 2015 sales of around 87.5 million units. That is lower than the analysts’ initial 2015 forecast of 88.6 million sales.
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