Mercedes & the South Korean Market

The level of competitiveness among the global premium brands is getting somewhat, well, silly. At least that’s one assessment that can be made from Mercedes-Benz proudly announcing, through Dr. Joachim Schmidt, executive vice president, Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz Cars, “After China, the market in which Mercedes-Benz is growing the fastest this year is South Korea. In the first ten months of 2010, we grew faster there than our premium competitors, which is why we recorded the largest increase in market share.”

In that period of time, they sold 13,500 units.

Now while it is all good and well that the company is doing well in Asia, it is worth putting that 13,500 figure into some sort of perspective: like the fact that Mercedes-Benz has sold 184,438 vehicles during the same period in the U.S. (according to Autodata), which, admittedly, is a bigger market than South Korea, but is also a 20.2% improvement over its sales in the first 10 months of 2009, and which is still a market that is still suffering from the pains of the Great Recession.

According to Mercedes, of its sales in South Korea, the E-Class was the best-selling model, with over 7,000 sold during the first ten months of this year. In the same period, more than 50,000 were sold in the U.S.

Of course, there is a huge upside in places like South Korea, so the growth potential there on a percentage basis is bigger than what can be realized in the U.S.

And as the competition among the premium brands is heating up around the world, we’re waiting to hear which is really kicking butt in Andorra. . .