Sales rise in May

In May, Daimler sold 130,040 passenger cars - 6.1 percent more than in the same month a year ago. That was more than ever before in a single month, the Stuttgart-based carmaker announced on Wednesday.

Noting that Daimler was able to sustain a trend of rising sales this year, the carmaker's head of marketing and distribution Joachim Schmidt said the company's latest compact car and sports utility vehicles (SUV) were proving especially to be hits with customers.

Daimler recently launched new versions of its Mercedes A and B Class models as well as a new compact CLA Coupe. Sales of these cars jumped 65 percent in May on the back of strong demand for these types of cars in Asia.

Apart from the Smart city car model, which slumped 8.3 percent in sales, Daimler recorded marked increases in its entire model range in May.

Thereby, demand was very robust in the markets of North America, in Great Britain as well as in Japan and Russia, Joachim Schmidt said, adding that those sales compensated for a 5.2 percent drop in sales in Germany in May.

Surprisingly, the German luxury carmaker defied the car slump in Europe where it sold 58,000 vehicles, which were 4.9 percent more cars than a year ago.

Daimler said that sales in the first five months of 2013 had set the carmaker well on track for yet another record year in terms of the number of cars sold. Between January and March, Daimler's passenger cars division, including Smart cars, delivered 606,000 vehicles to customers around the world.

uhe/ipj (Reuters, dpa)