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M5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 OCTOBER 2019 MOTORING MERCEDES-BENZ achieved a new September record last month with 223,838 vehi- cles sold worldwide (+10.4%). From July to September, a total of 590,514 cars with the three-pointed star were sold, which is the best third quar- ter in the company's history (+12.2%). Within just three months, Mercedes-Benz also reversed its sales trend since the be- ginning of 2019. In the year to September, deliveries in- creased by 0.6% to a total of 1,725,243 vehicles. The seg- ment of compact cars was one of the key drivers: new sales records with double-digit growth rates were achieved from January to September as well as in the month. The established C-, E- and S- Class Saloons also posted sales increases worldwide in Sep- tember. Since the beginning of the year, Mercedes-Benz maintained its market leader- ship in the premium segment in markets including Germa- ny, UK, France, Belgium, Swit- zerland, Portugal, Denmark, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Canada, Republic of South Africa and other markets. "We have posted the best- ever third quarter for Mer- cedes-Benz – a strong team performance of which we are extremely proud, especially in these challenging times," said Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Market- ing and Sales. "In the year- end spurt, we want to further consolidate our ambition to remain the world's leading premium automobile brand. Despite the highly competi- tive environment, we assume that Mercedes-Benz retail unit sales will increase slightly in the full year." Mercedes-Benz unit sales by model More than 72,700 units of the A- and B-Class, CLA Coupe, CLA Shooting Brake and GLA were delivered last month – more compact cars than in any month before (+17.7%). In addition to the new A-Class Saloon, the new B-Class and the new CLA Coupe have been key drivers for the growth of the compact models, especial- ly in Europe. Both models, the B-Class and the CLA Coupe, achieved significant double- digit sales growth in Europe last month. In the first nine months of the year, worldwide unit sales of the compact car segment also reached a new record of more than 489,600 units (+10.6%). The E-Class Saloon and Es- tate models posted an 11.8% increase in September with about 33,800 vehicles deliv- ered. The E-Class Saloon set new sales records both in Sep- tember (+15.2%) and since the beginning of the year (+2.1%). In the Asia-Pacific region and the Chinese and South Korean markets, sales of the E-Class Saloon reached record lev- els in September and the first nine months of the year. With more than 5,700 units delivered worldwide last month, the S-Class Saloon achieved a significant increase in deliveries (11.1%). Much of the strong double-digit growth came from the Chinese mar- ket, where, due to its ongoing popularity, the S-Class Saloon set a new record for deliver- ies in September. Sales in the United Sates also increased significantly with a double- digit growth last month. Smart In the first nine months of the year, 87,776 vehicles of the smart brand were delivered worldwide (-8.9%). From Jan- uary to September, Smart unit sales in Europe increased by 2.8%. In Germany, double-dig- it growth rates were achieved in deliveries of the two- and four-door urban microcars in both September and the year to September. At the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, smart showed its visually and digital- ly completely revised fortwo and forfour models. Progres- sive design meets intelligent connectivity and solely local emission-free, battery-pow- ered drive. As the first brand to completely switch its port- folio to electric drive, Smart is returning to its original brand core. Mercedes-Benz achieves new September record and best-ever third quarter