German automaker Mercedes-Benz reported on Tuesday that it sold 441,500 passenger vehicles in the third quarter.
Sales dropped by 12.3% year over year, with the United States and China showing the steepest declines — at 17% and 27%, respectively.
“While sales in Europe, South America and Gulf States are performing well, our sales in the third quarter were impacted by the market conditions in China,” the Group’s Marketing and Sales chief Mathias Geisen said in a statement.
“In China, the company continues to focus on providing long-term value for customers and superior product and tech experiences,” the company said later in the release.
Deliveries of fully electric vehicles stood at 42,600 units — representing a share of less than 10%.
Tesla, on the other hand, has delivered 497,099 EVs across the globe in the third quarter.
This marks the first time that the US brand has outperformed the German premium brand in overall sales, as first reported by user ‘alojoh’ on X.
Comparing the total vehicles registered by both brands, Tesla sold 12.6% more vehicles. The company’s sales increased by 7.4% year over year.
Tesla‘s results were mostly driven by a surge in demand in the US, ahead of the $7,500 EV consumer credit deadline on September 30.
In late July, Mercedes updated its outlook for 2025, saying that “overall sales in Q3 are seen slightly lower than in Q4.”
The legacy automaker expects full-year deliveries to be “significantly below” the 1,983,000 passenger vehicles sold in 2024.
The company also “sees a new full-year guidance range for return on sales adj. at Mercedes-Benz Cars of 4-6%,” to reflect the impact of tariffs.
The guidance was lowered from the previous 6-8%.
In Europe’s largest auto market, Germany, Tesla sold 3,404 vehicles last month, extending its losses since the year began.
In the third quarter, the US EV maker totaled 5,945 units, 30.9% down from the same period a year ago, when it had recorded 8,598 vehicles.
According to official national data published earlier this week, Mercedes sold 20,338 in its home market in September.
In the third quarter, 64,134 Mercedes vehicles were registered in Germany — which accounted for 12% of the company’s total global sales.
On Tuesday, Tesla launched new, more affordable versions of its best-selling Model 3 and Model Y.
The new Model Y Standard Rear-Wheel Drive starts at $39,990, reducing the entry point by $5,000 from its previous base price of $44,990.
The Model 3 Standard RWD is priced at $36,990. Both vehicles offer an EPA-estimated range of 321 miles, according to Tesla’s website.
Earlier this Tuesday, Goldman Sachs’ analyst Mark Delaney said the firm is expecting limited increase in sales volumes with the new variants due to a lower than expected price gap.
BMW, also headquartered in Germany, sold 514,620 BMW-branded vehicles, and a total of 588,300 units, considering other BMW Group brands, such as Rolls-Royce and Mini.
In the US, where Mercedes sales declined last quarter by 17%, BMW saw a sales increase of 24.9%.
The region represented 297,247 vehicles sold, over 57% of the brand’s total registrations between July and September.
In China, sales dropped by 11% — still lower than Mercedes‘ fall at 17%.
BMW sold 151,282 fully electric and hybrid vehicles in the third quarter, up 8% year over year.
Of those, 102,864 were fully electric — accounting for 20% of the brand’s sales across all powertrains.
