Mercedes’ electric car sales have fallen year-on-year for six consecutive quarters. The Stuttgart-based company has now reported growth again for the third quarter of 2025, thanks in part to the new CLA. Things are also looking up for vans.
Since the first quarter of 2024, Mercedes-Benz has only seen declining electric car sales. That has now changed: between the beginning of July and the end of September, the manufacturer sold 51,200 BEVs across the group: nine per cent more than in Q3 2024 and as much as 22 per cent more than in the second quarter. In the current year, the Mercedes-Benz Group has sold 138,600 electric vehicles, which is still down seven per cent due to the weak first half of the year.
In the passenger car business, Mercedes-Benz Cars, 42,600 BEVs were recorded in the quarterly balance sheet. Here, too, this represents 22 per cent growth compared to the second quarter, but the same level as in the previous year: Mercedes-Benz Cars reported 42,500 electric cars for the third quarter of 2024. At that time, this represented a decline of almost a third for the year as a whole, but now it is at least a stable result. However, Mercedes remains below last year’s figures for the current year: 118,400 electric Mercedes cars represent a decline of 13 per cent.
This means that plug-in hybrids remain stronger than pure electric cars in the passenger car segment. Mercedes officially only reports ‘xEV’ in its press release, under which label Mercedes combines BEV and PHEV – sales of plug-in hybrids can be easily calculated using the known electric car figures, which were 53,700 units in the third quarter.
Across all drive types, Mercedes sales fell by three per cent to 441,500 vehicles in the quarter. This means that the 42,600 electric cars correspond to an electric quota of 9.6 per cent. Although this is better than the 7.9 per cent in Q3 2024, Mercedes still needs to improve to meet its CO2 fleet targets. “The market environment and tariff policies” had an impact on sales in the US and China.
However, Mercedes does not differentiate between drive types in its breakdown by segment and market, so it is not possible to draw any conclusions about the development of electric sales. Nevertheless, the company provides an explanation for the current positive development: “Battery electric vehicle sales of cars and vans rose 9% on the year and 22% on the quarter, thanks to the launch of the electric CLA and improved availability of eVans,” the company wrote.
“Overall, we continue to see good demand for our Top-End vehicles and to receive excellent feedback for the electric CLA, which led EV sales to rise by 22% on the quarter. Our new products are creating fresh momentum and enthusiasm, setting the stage for further sales growth,” said Mathias Geisen, Member of the Board of Management for Sales.
Mercedes plans to follow up with the new electric GLC, which was unveiled at the IAA Mobility in September, from the beginning of 2026. The electric CLA Shooting Brake, an electric C-Class and other SUV models featuring CLA technology (the successors to the EQA and EQB will then also be sold under the model names GLA and GLB) are also set to hit the market in the course of the coming year.
In the van segment, total sales of 83,800 vehicles were also down, in this case by ten per cent. However, sales of electric vans increased by 25 per cent compared to Q2 and by as much as 96 per cent compared to Q3 2024, to 8,600 units. “In Europe, the share of electric vehicles accounted for 14% of our van sales during the third quarter, highlighting that our commitment to EVs is resonating with customers and contributing to steady growth. Additionally, we launched our Van Uptime Monitor across many European markets, which also resonated well, continuing our commitment to providing premium services for our customers,” says Sagree Sardien, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans Sales & Marketing.
Since the beginning of the year, Mercedes-Benz Vans has sold 260,200 units, including 20,200 electric vans. “Year-to-date, Mercedes-Benz Vans sold 260,200 units with 20,200 electric vans – a 61% increase over the year-earlier period and reflects the growing enthusiasm for the electric van portfolio,” the company wrote. However, even in the van segment, no distinction is made between the different segments (small vans, mid-size vans and large vans) or the different target groups of private and commercial customers when it comes to electric sales.
mercedes-benz.com
