Sluggish business in China and US tariffs weighed on Mercedes-Benz's sales last year, as car sales dropped 9% and van sales fell 11%, the Stuttgart-based company announced on Monday, reported dpa. The manufacturer sold around 2,160,000 cars and vans in 2025, down 10% on the previous year. This broke down to a little over 1.8 million cars and 359,100 vans. Fully electric models accounted for just under one in 10 cars. In China, where Mercedes delivered almost a third of all cars with 551,900 vehicles, the decline was particularly pronounced at 19%. Consumers there are not spending as freely as before and competition from new domestic companies has increased sharply. In Germany, Mercedes remained at the previous year's level with 213,200 vehicles. Tariffs affect US sales In the United States, tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump were among the factors affecting group sales, the DAX-listed group said. Mercedes sold around 285,000 vehicles there last year, or a decline of 12%. Mercedes measures sales as vehicles sold to dealers. However, customer deliveries in the US market rose by 1%, according to a company statement. In the entry-level and core segments, sales fell by 10% each. In the top-end segment, which includes S-Class luxury cars, the G-Class, Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach, the decline was 5%. More than half of sales (1,049,600) were in the core segment, which includes the C-Class and E-Class. “In 2025 we kicked-off the biggest product and tech launch program at Mercedes-Benz with cutting-edge electric-drive systems and intelligent software," Mercedes chief executive Ola Källenius said in a press release. Mercedes' model offensive to continue in 2026 Customer orders for the new electric CLA and GLC were said to be well above expectations, with a new version of the S-Class to be unveiled this year, the release stated. The carmaker had a tough 2025. Profit in the first nine months halved to around €3.88 billion ($4.54 billion). Revenue in this period fell by 8% to €98.5 billion. The firm plans to present figures for the full past financial year on February 12. In 2024, Mercedes also recorded a sharp decline in profit as well as a drop in revenue. The management board therefore launched a savings programme just over a year ago to increase profitability in the coming years. This is to be helped, among other things, by a severance programme for employees in areas other than production.