Mercedes-Benz Posts Any-Month Sales Record

Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz brand reports that its worldwide sales in September jumped 12% to 211,300 vehicles. It’s the first time the unit’s volume surpassed 200,000 units in a single month.

The Mercedes-brand also set a third-quarter record of 531,300 sales, up 11%. Volume through the first nine months of 2016 climbed 12% to a record 1.54 million. Sales of the division’s Smart city cars surged 37% to 14,000 cars last months and climbed 20% to 105,700 units in January-September.

September sales climbed in Europe (+15% to 98,900 vehicles), China (+20% to 46,400) and North America (+3% to 34,500).

The results appear likely to extend Mercedes-Benz’s lead over rival BMW AG, which will report its sales next week. Analysts expect BMW brand sales for September will grow 6% to about 191,000 units.