Mercedes-Benz Is The Best-Selling Car Brand Here

New Car Registrations Jan-Apr 2014*

*Figures from the LTA.

SINGAPORE -

A peek at the sales figures for the first four months of 2014 throws up some interesting points of conversation. We expected Mercedes-Benz to be doing well this year, but that prediction was based on the upcoming launch of the GLA compact SUV in May, followed by the surefire best-seller, the C-Class, later in July. Our prediction is that sales and registrations of the S-Class are contributing to the good figures right at the moment, not to mention less expensive models such as the CLA compact four-door sedan.

What’s interesting is that Mercedes already has a 12 percent lead over second place runner - and that runner is not BMW. Toyota takes second spot, no doubt sales buoyed by a strong demand for the new Corolla Altis, but also bearing in mind that Toyota’s figures encompass Lexus registrations too.

BMW’s had a lot of new models recently too, but they’re niche-fillers, and with main-sellers like the 3, 5 and 7 Series all recently launched or face-lifted, it looks like BMW will do strong, but not front-running business in 2014. Later in 2014, the X4, 4 Series Gran Coupe and M3/M4 will no doubt help shore things up.

Further down the line, Nissan throws up a surprise by popping up in fifth spot, the surprise bit being that it hasn’t had a major launch in recent times, with only the Elgrand large MPV facelift debuting in Singapore. Tan Chong confirms that the best-selling Nissan here is still the Sylphy sedan. Nissan actually splits the two front-running VW Group brands on the top ten table, with VW and Audi in fourth and sixth positions. Like BMW, the two brands are doing steady business with mainstream models, although in Audi’s case, a significant percentage of its sales are from niche models too, such as the Q5 SUV.

Mazda’s another Japanese surprise, with the new Mazda3 sedan contributing to its rise, as well as sales of the extant Mazda6 big sedan. It’s great to see the sporty Japanese brand back in action, compared to its doldrum year of 2011, where it sold just 265 cars the entire 12 months, or just 26 cars more than it’s done in the first quarter of 2014.

For the month of May, we should expect figures to rise once again, given the new three-month quota revision has thrown up a 30 percent rise in COE quotas. As we analysed here, there’s likely to be a large number of people whose current COEs will expire in the next three years and who will be looking to buy a new car when the chance comes by.

Dealers CarBuyer spoke to said showroom traffic shot up after the quota increase and the recent ten-grand COE price drop (COE prices have been consistently falling since March) but that didn’t necessarily translate to immediate sales. In fact, given that COE’s have seen their biggest price drop in recent history, it’s just as likely that the prices will rebound in May’s second round of bidding, as a result of the ‘knee-jerk’ nature of the COE system.