Mercedes takes TWO top ten positions in the UK, three for Vauxhall, TWO for VW and TWO for Ford, Nissan, ONE.

Passenger car demand sees small increase in July as UK registrations rose by 0.1%. Demand for AFVs remains healthy up 24.7% but still small market share. Monthly car registrations level off after record 2015 and strong early 2016 growth.

UK new car registrations experienced a moderate increase in July, up 0.1% for the month, according to figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). 1,599,159 new cars have been registered so far this year, putting demand in the year-to-date 2.8% higher than for the same period in 2015 following a strong first quarter. July followed the trend seen throughout this year whereby lower private registrations were offset by fleet purchases, which increased by 5.0% this month. Demand for alternatively fuelled vehicles remained remarkably strong with 24.7% more registrations compared with the same month in 2015. Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “After a healthy start to 2016 and record registrations in 2015 the market is showing signs of cooling. The automotive market is a vital part of the British economy and it’s important government delivers the economic conditions which instil business and consumer confidence. With low interest rates, attractive finance options and exciting new models coming to the showrooms, the market still has lots to offer customers.”

Mercedes continues to break records with increased sales in the first six months worldwide.

• In June, global unit sales of Mercedes-Benz increased by 19.3% to 169,616 vehicles and, in the first half of the year, by 14.7% to 898,425 vehicles
• Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales: “June saw Mercedes-Benz complete not only the best ever first half of the year in terms of sales, but, with 38.5% growth, we have also recorded the strongest sales month in China.”
• Sales growth of 16.5% in Germany and 17.2% in Great Britain in June
• Sales records in the first half of the year for CLA (+25.5%), C-Class Saloon and Estate (+58.7%)

With 898,425 vehicles delivered to customers in the first six months of 2015 (+14.7%), Mercedes-Benz recorded the highest half-year sales figures in the company’s history. The second quarter of the year also exceeded all previous quarters in terms of sales figures. In June, the brand with the star handed over 169,616 vehicles to customers (+19.3%). The sales success is due to the high demand for SUVs and the C-Class Saloon and Estate.

“June saw Mercedes-Benz complete not only the best ever first half of the year in terms of sales, but, with 38.5% growth, we have also recorded the strongest sales month in China,” says Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales.

In Europe, the brand with the star set new sales records both for June and for the first half of the year. In the first six months of 2015, sales rose by 11.2% to 392,528 units. Strong growth was recorded in Germany, where sales increased to 26,800 units in June (+16.5%). Thus, Mercedes-Benz remained the leading premium manufacturer in its home market. New sales records were set in Great Britain and Portugal in June. Growth was very strong in Spain, where sales increased by 30% since the beginning of the year.

Demand for vehicles with the star remained high in the NAFTA region: 189,375 customers in the USA, Canada, and Mexico opted for a Mercedes-Benz in the first half of the year (+10.1%). New sales records were set in all three countries. In the USA, 164,970 customers were happy to receive their new vehicle in the first six months of 2015 (+8.8%). In June, a sales increase of 5.8% to 28,044 units was achieved in the USA.

The Asia-Pacific region benefited from very strong sales growth in China, Japan, and South Korea in June. All in all, sales increased by 37.3% to 54,778 units in this region. With 38.5%, growth in China was even higher (32,507 units). Unit sales rose by 53.5% in Japan and by 33.8% in South Korea. New sales records were set in China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia for both the first half of the year and for the month of June. In Japan, Mercedes-Benz remained the market leader among the premium importers. The same applies to Australia, where the best sales month ever was achieved in June.

In June, a total of 54,379 customers opted for a compact model of the A-Class, B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake or GLA (+29.8%). In the first half of 2015, the brand with the star sold approximately 25% more compact cars than during the first six months of the previous year (269,527 units). Similar growth (+25.5%) and a new sales record was achieved by the CLA. The CLA Shooting Brake also enjoyed great popularity in the first months after its market launch.

The C-Class Saloon and Estate keep setting one record after another this year: sales increased by 58.7% to 214,222 units since the beginning of the year. In China, sales of C-Class Saloon doubled during the same period. A few months ago, Mercedes-Benz started the local production of the normal-wheelbase C-Class Saloon in China in addition to the long-wheelbase version. In the USA, the C-Class Saloon also set a new sales record in the first half of the year.

With more than 13 million E-Class Saloons and Estates delivered to customers, the E-Class is the best-selling vehicle in the history of Mercedes-Benz. The E-Class Saloon set a new sales record in the first half of the year in China, which is the biggest sales market of the model.

A new record was also achieved by the S-Class Saloon in June. With 51,560 units sold, the S-Class remains the world’s best-selling luxury saloon.

In the SUV segment, Mercedes-Benz not only celebrated the world premiere of the new GLC last month, but also a new sales record (+17.3%). During the first half of the year, sales of the GLA, the GLK, the M-Class, the GL and the G-Class increased by 25% to 232,406 units. The G-Class — the prime father of all Mercedes-Benz SUVs — set a new sales record in the first six months of the year (+27.6%).

The success story of the smart fortwo and smart forfour continued unabated in June. A total of 11,329 customers around the world opted for the city runabout in the past month which marks an increase of 54.5%. In Germany, smart sales were nearly twice as high last month as they were in June 2014.

Mercedes to launch the All New A-Class to the world at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Capturing the theme ‘Flat-out and Fearless: Racing on the Edge’, Mercedes-Benz is set to mark the 22^ndrunning of the Goodwood Festival of Speed in spectacular style with global debuts and on-track action featuring the mightiest Mercedes-AMG cars for the track and the road as well as special celebrations, marking 60 years since the W 196 Silver Arrows last raced.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed will host the worldwide debut of the new generation A-Class, with the mightiest production hot hatch, the new Mercedes-AMG A 45, in action on the challenging, 1.16-mile Goodwood Hill – its 4MATIC system, agility and compact proportions making it ideally suited to the narrow, twisty route.

Joining the Mercedes-AMG A 45 on the Hill will be the most dynamic Mercedes-AMG on-sale today – the GT S. The GT S will be joined by the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S in aiming to make a crowd-pleasing ‘spirited’ start off the line. 

The quickest Mercedes-Benz of all at Goodwood will be the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 W04 V8 Formula One car – set to be driven by World Endurance Champion Anthony Davidson on the Friday and Saturday, and Nico Rosberg on the Sunday. 

The predecessors of Anthony and Nico are also being celebrated, and in few instances is ‘Flat-out and Fearless: Racing on the Edge’ more apparent than in the 1955 racing season for Mercedes-Benz.

Brave men drove fearsome Silver Arrows on tracks and roads around the world to victory – with the most incredible drive of them all coming almost exactly 60 years ago when Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson took their W 196 S to victory in the Mille Miglia in 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds – a record never broken.

Nine of the surviving W 196 series racers, each powered by magnificent – and loud - straight-eight engines - will be at Goodwood, six of them taking to the Hill. 

The Mercedes-Benz Pavilion, located beside the first corner of the Goodwood Hill, allows visitors to get up close to the most exciting new cars created by Mercedes-Benz, including the all-new A 250 Sport. 

The Mercedes-Benz Pavilion is also hosting special guests from the world of racing. There’s the chance to experience the cars in vivid, 360 degree action too, via incredible Oculus immersive films, available to be viewed on Samsung Gear Virtual Reality headsets.

Since January 2014, special moments have been captured using 360 degree filming techniques – from the championship-winning MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One car making its first ever run on track to World Champion Lewis Hamilton drifting an E 63 AMG, a Mercedes-AMG GT S being driven as hard as we dared around the Laguna Seca Raceway and Mercedes-Benz racing cars spanning a century taking on the Goodwood Hill.

Held every summer since 1993, the Goodwood Festival of Speed was attended by over 200,000 people in 2014, a year that saw Mercedes-Benz celebrate 120 years in motorsport.

FLEET WORLD HONOURS - Mercedes takes a triple win at this years awards.

• Mercedes-Benz wins Fleet Manufacturer of the Year 2015
• Mercedes-Benz S-Class recognised as ‘Best Luxury Car’
• Mercedes-Benz C-Class awarded ‘Best Executive Compact Car’
• The Awards recognise innovation, quality and sustainability across the Fleet Industry

Mercedes-Benz has been recognised as the best in the Fleet Industry by winning the prestigious Fleet Manufacturer of the Year 2015 Award at the Fleet World Honours 2015.

The Fleet World Honours – divided into a series of categories representing car and fleet management – recognise innovation, quality and sustainability and the judges look for evidence of these characteristics when evaluating submissions.

In announcing the Fleet Manufacturer of the Year Award, Steve Moody, Editor of Fleet World magazine, commented: “The progression has continued for Mercedes-Benz with year-on-year fleet sales increases and an ever-strengthening line-up of vehicles, such as the A-Class, GLA-Class and the excellent new C-Class. The result is a wide range of cars and an offering that is second to none in the fleet market.”

Sally Dennis, Head of Fleet at Mercedes-Benz UK, said: “We are extremely proud to be recognised as the Fleet Manufacturer of the Year 2015. It’s a testament to our Fleet Team, our Retailer partners, the unrivalled product over recent years and our development of the  Mercedes-Benz Fleet offering to the Fleet and Business Industry.”

In announcing the S-Class Award for Best Luxury Car, Steve Moody, said:  “The S-Class continues to set the benchmark in the luxury sector with its quality, comfort and refinement, and while many imitate, few manage to beat it. The choice of super smooth diesels, hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains mean there always the right type of car for every senior executive.”

In the UK, the S-Class – priced from £66,910 OTR – remains the number one luxury car in its market segment with over 2,700 vehicles registered in 2014 and over 1,400 vehicles registered so far this year.

In announcing the C-Class Award for Best Executive Compact Car, Steve Moody, commented: “Mercedes-Benz seems to have skipped a generation with the C-Class, which now looks and feels like a downsized S-Class. Technology-rich, its home to the best interior in the segment and features a wide choice of engines, including diesel hybrid and a plug-in hybrid version. This should prove invaluable for the brand’s aspirations in the premium sector.”

The C-Class – priced from £27,270 OTR – returns up to 134.5 mpg with CO₂ emissions from 48 g/km. Almost 20,000 C-Class vehicles have been registered so far this year with almost 7,500 registered to the Fleet industry.

The BTCC three races were shared between Shedden, Plato & Morgan at Thruxton.

Jason Plato and Adam Morgan also score wins at Thruxton

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race-winning spoils were shared between Gordon Shedden, Jason Plato and Adam Morgan at Thruxton. Shedden showed his class by heading home a Honda one-two in Sunday’s opener, continuing the success story for the Japanese manufacturer at the fastest circuit in the country.

The Scotsman got the jump by the pole-sitting VW of Team BMR’s Aron Smith and never looked back as he pulled away from the chasing pack, maintaining the lead for the remainder of the race.

Neal also nipped by the slow-starting Smith and despite coming under race-long pressure he was eventually able to secure a hard-earned second place finish. The result for the new Civic Type R was the eighth victory for Honda machinery in the last nine races at Thruxton, which has impressively spanned three models of car.

Morgan claimed another eye-catching podium ahead of Plato, the latter having cleanly picked his way through from sixth on the grid.

Honda’s dominant reign came to an end in race two when Plato came out on top of a classic joust with West Surrey Racing's Rob Collard. Plato’s VW initially lost out to the rear-wheel drive BMW but the double champion quickly reeled him in and made his move at the end of lap two.

The duelling duo couldn’t be separated for the duration of the contest with Collard hounding the stealth black machine ahead of him for every fiercely fought lap. Plato produced a defensive masterclass, however, and he held on to take the win – his 90^th career victory in the series. Shedden completed the podium positions to score yet more valuable championship points.

Morgan then secured a stellar second BTCC career victory with a flawless drive in the final race.

Starting from pole position the WIX Racing Mercedes immediately pulled away from the field and was more than three seconds up the road by mid-distance. He had to hold his nerve after a brief safety car period, but the young talent was again able to peg back the field following the restart.

Despite it being his second victory having won on the final day of the 2014 season at Brands Hatch, it was the first time the Lancastrian had actually stood on the top step of the podium. His maiden triumph effectively came in the stewards room when first-on-the-road driver Plato was penalised for a driving standards infringement. So despite this result representing his second success, it will undoubtedly have tasted sweeter than the first.

MG Triple Eight Racing's Andrew Jordan maintained his championship challenge with a second place finish behind Morgan's Mercedes. While the 25-year-old is still looking for his first win of 2015, he has shown the sort of consistency that could prove vital over the course of a season and that which took him to title glory in 2013.

Sam Tordoff scored his first podium since making the switch to West Surrey Racing, after he had to defend from the team’s former driver Colin Turkington. Reigning champion Turkington experienced a relatively low-key weekend in Hampshire, but the Ulsterman still bagged a solid points haul in every race.

Honda Yuasa Racing made the most gains during the final race with Shedden and Neal finishing in fifth and sixth respectively.

The fallout from Hampshire sees the championship picture tantalisingly poised with five former champions occupying the top five positions. Shedden leads Turkington by eight points, with Neal, Plato and Jordan next up in the order.

Honda holds the advantage from reigning title holders MG in the Manufacturers/Constructors Championship while Team BMR maintains its lead in the Teams’ standings. Turkington and Team BMR head the Independents’ tables, and Power Maxed Racing’s Josh Cook is the Jack Sears Trophy leader, which is open to rookie competitors.

Rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will take place at Oulton Park in Hampshire in four weeks time (6/7 June).

Gordon Shedden said: “To get another win and one-two with the new Civic Type R is a fantastic feeling. I got a great start so straight away I was in some clear air, which made the all-important job of looking after the tyres quite a bit easier. By the time I was at the Complex for the first time I’d broken the tow, and from then on I could manage the pace – the car was perfect. To get a podium with maximum ballast in race two was awesome – we were really chuffed with that – and to then conclude the weekend with more solid points in race three was a real bonus. As championship leader, I’ll go to Oulton with a whole load of weight in the car, but we’ll worry about that in a little while…”

Jason Plato said: “It was a good weekend overall. After what happened in Free Practice One, it knocked us back a bit and took some of the aggression out of our approach. It’s dead easy now to look back and say I should have pushed a bit harder, but actually it was probably the right thing to do because we got through with a strong haul of points. I don’t know exactly where we were before the weekend, but now we’re just 12 points from the top. That’s progress; we’re getting closer and closer. I’m getting closer to 100 wins! I don’t think I’ll be able to get them all this year, the championship is too competitive, but it’s getting closer. I think we’ll definitely get a few at Oulton – my tail is in the air and there’s nobody faster around that place than me. We’ve got to do our job, stick the car on pole and win the first, and maybe the second race.”

Adam Morgan said: “It’s an incredible feeling – it was great to win at Brands but doing it on the road is another level. I’ve wanted to get a lights-to-flag victory for so long, and to do it around Thruxton is amazing. Thanks to all the guys in the team – the car was brilliant, and while I did have a bit of vibration it made it to the end. It’s been a great day all round – we’re a small team but we have some fantastic backing from the guys at WIX and all our other sponsors and with three podiums this year, we’re getting there. In this championship experience counts for an awful lot, and now I’m in my fourth season everything is coming together and we’re hoping to be right up there in the Independents’ week in week out.”

Matt Neal said: “The Civic Type R lived up to expectations around here for sure. I think we could have had more points out of the weekend, but it’s so close and I had a bit of a mess up in race two which I’ll be thinking about again tomorrow morning. We’ve got to move on and we got good points for me and Flash – we’re both still up there. Race three was busy – I wanted it to carry on, the car still felt great! Oulton is one of the tracks where ballast is really going to hurt, and qualifying is going to be really difficult so the top few guys could find it tough. If we can get a top six it would be a good job. We’re not about having quiet weekends though; we’re flat out for everything we can get. It works well for me and Flash, we work well together and push each other very hard!”

Colin Turkington said: “It was a steady weekend although we struggled a bit for balance. Whenever you qualify back a bit you have to really graft on race day to try and pick up results. We improved the car through all three races and probably scored some OK points. The ballast is going to make things trickier for us at Oulton, as there’s plenty of stopping and starting around there, but it’s points in the bag at this time of the year and hopefully we can bring a stronger package to Oulton.”

 

Andy Jordan said: “First of all I’d like to say a big congratulations to the WIX guys, I know what it’s like to be in a small team and to win in the BTCC with your family is brilliant. For us it’s been a pretty tough weekend at work. I thought Adam [Morgan] might lose his tyres in the third race – he was setting a very impressive pace and I was on the limit of where the MG felt comfortable so I didn’t push too hard and made sure I’d be there to pick up any pieces. They’ve obviously got the car well sorted though as it made it to the flag. I’m really happy to get the podium – it’s important to keep scoring on our bad days, but we need some good days now too!”

2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Thruxton

Race 1

1.    Gordon SHEDDEN (Honda Yuasa Racing): 16 Laps
2.    Matt NEAL (Honda Yuasa Racing): +1.016s
3.    Adam MORGAN (WIX Racing): +2.710s
4.    Jason PLATO (Team BMR): +9.866s
5.    Andy PRIAULX (Team IHG Rewards Club): +12.047s
6.    Andrew JORDAN (MG Triple Eight Racing): +13.612s

Race 2

1.    Jason PLATO (Team BMR): 16 Laps
2.    Rob COLLARD (Team JCT600 with GardX): +0.442s
3.    Gordon SHEDDEN (Honda Yuasa Racing): +3.475s
4.    Jack GOFF (MG Triple Eight Racing): +4.022s
5.    Colin TURKINGTON (Team BMR): +6.962s
6.    Sam TORDOFF (Team JCT600 with GardX): +10.385s

Race 3

1.    Adam MORGAN (WIX Racing): 19 Laps
2.    Andrew JORDAN (MG Triple Eight Racing): +1.452s
3.    Sam TORDOFF (Team JCT600 with GardX): +2.641s
4.    Colin TURKINGTON (Team BMR): +3.131s
5.    Gordon SHEDDEN (Honda Yuasa Racing): +4.531s
6.    Matt NEAL (Honda Yuasa Racing): +5.610s