Model changeover and weak demand continue to cause passenger car sales to fall at Mercedes-Benz.

In the second quarter, the brand with the three-pointed star sold 496,700 vehicles, four percent fewer than in the same period last year, as the company announced on Wednesday. Sales of luxury models and all-electric cars fell particularly sharply, while plug-in hybrids made strong gains. In almost all markets worldwide, sales were down on the previous year, most significantly in Germany with a drop of 16 percent.

Compared to the previous quarter, however, sales increased by seven percent, which the Stuttgart-based car manufacturer interprets as a turnaround. Sales figures are expected to improve further in the second half of the year thanks to new models such as the G-Class. In addition, the production bottleneck for the E-Class and GLC, which was caused by supply problems for 48-volt drive systems at Bosch last year, should be overcome.

At Mercedes-Benz Vans, sales from April to June fell by 13 percent year-on-year to 103,400 vehicles, partly due to a model changeover in the USA and weaker demand for motorhomes.

(Report by Ilona Wissenbach, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)