Stuttgart – Daimler AG achieved global sales of 287,205 vehicles in the Van segment in 2008 (previous year: 289,073).

Sales in Germany were at 71,763 units (previous year: 71,258), thus marking a new sales record.

A new high was also achieved in the Netherlands with 12,883 units.

The number of vehicles sold in the UK increased by 2,900 to 31,105 and in sales in Belgium rose by 2,100 units to 9,289 vehicles.

Australian sales rose five percent over the previous year in what was a challenging local market. In fact, 2008 saw a record year of sales for the award-winning Sprinter van and cab chassis range, with 2,329 units sold.

The Sprinter Van series, which is produced in the German plants at Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde as well as in Argentina, made the largest contribution to total global sales with 166,473 units sold (previous year: 165,916), thus continuing its success story.

So many Sprinters have never before been delivered to customers.

Models of the Vito/Viano series were delivered to 98,466 customers worldwide (previous year: 99,270), which represents a slight drop of just under 1% from the previous year.