Mercedes-Benz PC Global Deliveries : 2024-25 (Q1-Q3)

M-B has two divisions, Car and Van. Here we consider the former. How is it managing in a somewhat volatile environment?

To the right, there is a chart showing quarterly wholesale delivery figures. Quarterly volumes don't vary much at all. 

In 2024, there were slight decreases except for Q4. In 2025, the three quarters so far have all been down and increasingly so.

M-B divides model deliveries into three main categories, Entry, Core and Top End. The Entry level is where most of the decrease is occuring. As it's the least profitable, not so bad.

The Core is also down with the Top End about the same. The most profitable part of the business holding up well. Again, the best place to have it. Mercedes is moving away from lower priced models to focus on its higher margin cars to increase profitability. I never understood why they went to the lower priced end.

This adds up to an 8% drop in volume so far this year. How are the regions faring? Only the Rest is up. 

Germany is about the same, Europe (less Germany) is down ever so slightly at -2% and Asia (less China) -3%. North America is down 10% but the real negative is China. 

This is no surprise, as China has adversely affected German car companies in recent times. In the long term I think it is better to be less reliant on China.

Moving on to electric cars. The chart to the right shows the last seven quarters. They were down 9% in 2024 but up 4% YTD in 2025. 

Planning ahead for this area of the market has not been easy. Their adoption hasn't been as great as expected and has many manufacturers pulling back on how much they commit to this area, both in model development and production levels.

Overall, they are up 4% YTD 2025. Fully electric cars (BEV) are down 13% but plug in hybrids (PHEV) are up 21%, which is quite typical.

In conclusion, M-B is in the same situation as many other car makers. Volumes are down and there is a trend to move more up market. Chinese competition has arrived and even premium car makers are cautiously watching developments. 

Data & photos: Mercedes-Benz. For M-B vans, simply click here.

SAIC - GM : 2009-2025 (Q1-Q3)

SAIC and GM established a joint venture agreement to manufacture and sell cars in China. In 1999 Buick Regal cars started rolling off the assembly line. The data here picks up from 2009 with three brands being assembled by SAIC-GM. This excludes imported vehicles but that would be minimal at best. 

The 2025 figure is for nine months only but all the others 12 months. The Total column is from SAIC so is untouched. The brand volumes are from other sources and they don't always quite align with each other. They also at times vary slightly from the SAIC figure. In such cases, the Chev figure is adjusted as it is the one that is the issue.

We will briefly discuss each brand separately. 

Buick is a popular brand here. When the banks were insisting on GM reducing its number of brands, Buick was spared due to its popularity in China. Over 700,000 were assembled in 2009 and from 2015 to 2018 sales exceeded one million. 

From there, sales consistently slipped downward until 2024 when they almost halved. With three months to go in 2025, sales will surely increase if not by much.

The Excelle model (photo above) has been the biggest selling model for most of the joint venture's history. When sales ended in 2022, the Envision took over as the best selling model by default but in no way compensated for the loss of the Excelle. 

Cadillac: It played a bit part for a while then came good around 2016. The inevitable slump came in 2024 but 2025 will be better. The XTS, XT5 and currenly CT5 have been the strongest selling models. 

Chevrolet: It may surprise some that Chevrolet has never outsold Buick in China. It got close in 2014 but then lost that battle. In 2024 sales collapsed and there is no revival coming in 2025. Speculation is rife that Chevrolet will be withdrawn from the market, but there is nothing official on that.

Some popular models have been the Lova, Cruze (photo below), Monza and Cavalier. 

Data source: SAIC and others. 

Conclusion: With competition heating up in China, the SAIC-GM joint venture has been badly affected. It is rallying in 2025, so future prospects are positive despite the recent downturn in sales. 

SAIC Global Sales (China Production) : 2009-2025 (Q1-Q3)

SAIC is a state owned car company with its headquarters in Shanghai. It was founded in 1955 and found much success in joint ventures with foreign car companies VW (since 1984) and GM (1988). 

It also eventually acquired MG Rover technology without the Rover name. They instead created their own similar sounding brand, Roewe (photo above). It still runs the SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre. 

So what is covered by SAIC Motor here? Roewe (commenced 2006), MG (2007) and Rising Auto (2020 - briefly as the R brand / photo below). Sales were 90,396 in 2009 and they rose substantially up to 230,020 in 2013. Then it was up and down but overall going up. 

The peak was 2023 at just under a million but then hit a speed bump the following year, down to 707,015. 2025 will see an increase as the 2025 figure to the right are for nine months. 

MG would fill the value for money base brand, Roewe is considered upper mainstream and Rising Auto as a more premium electric subbrand of Roewe. 

Proton Malaysia Sales : 2005-2009

For the first in the series, just click 2000-04

Of the two main car brands in Malaysia, Proton was the main player going into this period but it was being chased by Perodua. In 2006, Proton sold 171,000 cars and Perodua just under 140,000. A year later Proton crashed to 105,000 units and Perodua continued upwards to 155,000. What happened?

Perodua introduced the compact Myvi hatchback in 2005, the same as the Daihatsu Sirion and it was a good car. Roomy, economical and reliable, it took the market by storm and became the top selling model for nine consecutive years. The Vivi city car also came along in 2007.

Proton's Waja and Gen-2 were on the way out so the sudden swing in sales success. Proton hit back with the second generation Persona small car in 2007 (see picture above), compact Saga in 2008 and Exora small MPV. Sales lifted while Perodua's plateaued. Still, Perodua maintained its lead, ending this period 20,000 sales ahead of Proton.  

Data Source: Govt of Malaysia. Picture source: Autoevolution. 

High Wage Car Assembly

The difference in wages paid to car assembly workers varies greatly around the world. It is true that the wage cost per car isn't that high, perhaps 5-10% in a high wage country, but there are many variables. Premium cars would be less compared to mainstream cars. 

The car industry is experiencing cost pressures. Competition is heating up with more brands vying for your patronage. China was a big earner for companies until intense competition there started eroding profits. The Chinese government has recently encouraged car companies to pull back on aggressive discounting. In addition, shipping costs have also been rising.

Where does this leave car manufacturers? It must be tempting to move production to lower wage countries. That isn't a straightforward thing with investment in plants being hugely expensive. You can't just walk away from them. But over time, the shift can be carried out.

Car makers don't want a customer backlash if they moved all their production, so they manage the balance carefully. How would VW fare if it moved all its production out of Germany? With freight costs and the logistics of sending cars long distances, there is merit in having production close to the market where the bulk of the sales will be achieved. 

Workers on high wages understandably want to protect their earnings but at what cost? Would it be worth having a wage increase freeze or even a modest cut in wages to save a plant they work at? Unlikely to impossible. 

Belgium used to be a major car manufacturer but now has only one plant in Ghent. The fact is it didn't have a local brand which made it easier for car companies to leave. Wage costs were also a factor. 

Recently, Audi closed its plant there to move production to Mexico. Why? The factory wasn't fully utilised but lower wages would also have been an incentive. 

One Audi worker who was interviewed said he would struggle to find another job that paid as well. Car assembly does seem to be a well paid job for the level of skill required. I'm not surprised finding another job at that pay rate was highly unlikely. 

Would such a worker in hindsight been prepared to take a modest pay cut to keep a job that would still be reasonably well paid? The answer would be no. Many workers in high wage countries view their remuneration as an inalienable right. Maybe it's a case of not seeing the bigger picture.

There is no easy answer to this. Margins are being squeezed and costs have to be looked at. More cooperation and cost sharing between car companies is needed. The Japanese are good at doing that.

Car assembly in high wage countries may eventually be just for premium or maybe only luxury marques. The assembly workers may need to find lower wage jobs elsewhere if they can. 

China Car Sales : 2025 (Jan-Aug)

I don't do many articles on China. Imported cars are not included in the data and that doesn't make any sense to me. For many brands it won't matter, but for some it paints a distorted picture. A few foreign brands fail to even make the chart because of that.

With the data below, 10,000 sales is the cutoff point. For the first eight months of 2025 approximately 18.34 million cars were sold here. BYD is now well ahead after taking the lead in 2023. VW had been well on top for decades and seemed invincible, but quite quickly things changed. 

VW is now far away from the top spot although and is still second, but for how long? The likes of Geely or Chery overtaking seems inevitable. Toyota is likewise losing market share along with VW and foreign brands generally.

Jaguar sales have stopped in all but a few places where they seemingly stocked up before production ended. In China they assemble Jaguars and nearly all 2025 XE and XF sales are here. They are doing a 90th anniversary XFL for a special price but only sold in China. I can't see why it couldn't have been exported to LHD markets. The interior is pictured below and it looks nice. 

Eighteen Years, 1.6m & Counting

I started doing this blog in October, 2007. Eighteen years ago. If you do the maths, that means I'm now eighteen years older than I was then. Actually, I don't mind getting older, it's the aging process I don't like. 

In that time, I've never had advertising nor allowed comments that are promoting a service or product. This area is 100% commercial free. I don't even ask any of you to buy me a coffee! It's nice to give without wishing to have something in return. Radical, I know.

You may also have noticed I don't like hyphens. Why not meld two words if required? Of course, being both the contributor and editor means I can do things like that. 

I like cars and statistics so the blog is something I enjoy although sometimes motivation isn't strong. The thing is I'm still putting out articles after all these years. I have been doing more data collation recently and some does end up in the blog. 

I write about cars but I don't like the direction of the car industry. Touch screens are less safe than physical controls and less efficient. They try to compensate with features such as autonomous braking and lane departure warning. I'm not against touch screens, just not having important controls there.

The car I drive I bought new twenty years ago. I look at modern cars and have never felt less interested in buying one. As for the electric push, I see them more as a stop gap measure until hydrogen fuel cell or the like gets established. 

A few tips for buying a car. 

1) Don't buy anything too big if you don't need the size. That's inefficient. 

2) Depreciation is a horrendous expense. Maintain your current vehicle and keep it as long as possible. 

3) If buying new, entry level models are usually the best value. Only buy higher spec if you really need the features they offer. 

I'm glad you enjoy the blog. You often have to pay for this sort of thing and I'm not trying to compete with pay sites. They invariably offer more, but for some, this offers all they want. 

If you are inclined to suggest some positive or constructive feedback, there is a comment facility. You don't have to register, but I do filter them to keep out the advertising ones, so posting isn't immediate. I reply to all of them, so feel free. All the best and keep safe.

Proton Malaysia Sales : 2000-04

In Malaysia, the two local brands of Perodia and Proton have been major players. I did an article way back on the progress of these two brands locally, which can be viewed by clicking here. 

I've found some data which I've sorted to show when Proton was top dog in Malaysia and what they were selling. It's nice to get hold of this sort of thing as older statistics are often harder to find than recent ones. 

In the year 2000, Proton had its market share around the 64% mark. Registrations increased over the next four years but so did competition and and by 2004, its share was at the 44% mark or down 20 percentage points. Sales volume was holding, but the market was growing.

Japanese and Korean brands were starting to have an impact on sales through expanded local production. It was never going to retain the market share it enjoyed in the 20th century. The question was how much would it surrender?

Data Source: Govt of Malaysia. Photo source: Netcarshow. 

The Mitsubishi based compact Saga Iswara was the best selling car, and was sold from 1992. It came with 4-door and hatchback body styles. It was a facelifted model from the original Saga which was released in 1985 as the first nationally produced car and was popular as a taxi. 

The small sized Wira was introduced in 1993, also with 4-door and hatchback model variants. It was based on the Mitsubishi Lancer but with modified styling. In my eyes it was nicely styled for a car going back that many years.

The medium sized Waja was offered only as a saloon car was the first model that was mainly developed by Proton. It was released in the year 2000 and presumably due to its size didn't hit the numbers of the smaller Saga Iswara and Wira.

Just in time for this time period arrived the small Gen-2, offered as a 4-door and hatchback. It was developed by proton with engineering input from Lotus. It looked good and handled well but the interior was not so well executed. 

Other models were the Perdana executive car, released in 1995 and based on the Mitsubishi Eterna. The Satira 3-door hatch back (introduced in 1994) was based on the Mitsubishi Colt/Mirage with Lotus tuned handling. The Juara microvan (2001) and Arena compact pick up (2002) were two new entries for this time. The Putra sports coupe and Tiara small hatch were both on the way out. 

For 2005-2009, simply click here.