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Mercedes-Benz car statistics

How many Mercedes-Benz cars are on the road in Great Britain, every Mercedes-Benz model, its share of new cars over time and which fuels they use, how they do at the MOT and their safety recalls. Built from DVLA licensing records and DVSA MOT results.

Last updated
Records analysed
37,519,147 car records (licensed and SORN)
Methodology
View methodology
  • Licensed in Great Britain 1,747,692 +1.1% on a year earlier
  • Rank among makes No. 7 5.2% of licensed cars
  • MOT first-time pass rate, 2025 77.8% Cars of the same ages 74.3%
  • New registrations in 2025 90,233 4.5% of all new cars
  • Most common fuel Diesel 48.6% of those licensed
  • Safety recalls since 1992 577 naming 35 Mercedes-Benz models

How many Mercedes-Benz cars are on the road?

There were 1,747,692 Mercedes-Benz cars licensed in Great Britain at the end of June 2026, and a further 205,731 declared off the road (SORN). That is 5.2% of all licensed cars, or about 1 in 19, making Mercedes-Benz the No. 7 make on the road. That is the most on the road at any year end since 1994. Petrol makes up 31.0% of licensed Mercedes-Benz cars, against 54.2% of all cars.

Mercedes-Benz cars licensed in Great Britain

Numbers are still rising: the latest count is the highest in this series.

Mercedes-Benz cars licensed in Great Britain at the end of each year
Year Licensed
1994 248,384
1995 265,322
1996 292,365
1997 324,381
1998 369,038
1999 427,372
2000 481,761
2001 546,916
2002 612,873
2003 685,499
2004 744,842
2005 796,292
2006 838,502
2007 878,461
2008 907,450
2009 938,966
2010 960,555
2011 983,732
2012 1,012,997
2013 1,062,858
2014 1,118,996
2015 1,200,386
2016 1,307,620
2017 1,396,909
2018 1,485,077
2019 1,568,736
2020 1,602,182
2021 1,640,017
2022 1,662,771
2023 1,674,418
2024 1,705,609
2025 1,727,145
2026 1,747,692

Source:DfT / DVLA End of June 2026 Updated

Fuel type

Mercedes-Benz cars

All cars in Great Britain

Source:DfT / DVLA End of June 2026 Updated

Mercedes-Benz models

54 Mercedes-Benz models have a page of their own. The most common is the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, with 379,276 licensed: 21.7% of all Mercedes-Benz cars on the road. Over the last year the CLA-Class added the most cars on the road (+15,456, +15.2%) and the C-Class lost the most (−15,193, −4.5%). The totals above also count models too small for a page of their own.

Mercedes-Benz models with their own page, most licensed first
Model Licensed Change on a year SORN Main fuel MOT pass rate
A-Class 379,276 +0.5% 13,828 Diesel 78.3%
C-Class 322,420 −4.5% 46,619 Diesel 74.6%
E-Class 201,971 −4.2% 40,539 Diesel 77.4%
CLA-Class 117,137 +15.2% 2,363 Petrol 80.6%
GLA-Class 113,728 +7.2% 1,823 Diesel 83.2%
GLC-Class 100,136 +9.3% 2,267 Diesel 86.3%
B-Class 66,044 −4.2% 3,124 Diesel 72.6%
AMG-Class 54,636 +6.3% 2,816 Petrol –
SLK-Class 47,300 −5.3% 10,537 Petrol 71.9%
GLE-Class 39,106 +4.4% 1,457 Diesel 87.1%
EQA-Class 36,423 +16.1% 154 Electric 89.6%
GLB-Class 24,920 +16.0% 659 Petrol 89.9%
ML-Class 24,148 −10.6% 11,529 Diesel 72.2%
EQB-Class 22,128 +22.2% 88 Electric 85.1%
S-Class 21,561 −4.0% 8,636 Diesel 83.6%
CLS-Class 19,273 −6.9% 4,493 Diesel 74.6%
CLK-Class 18,743 −13.2% 10,718 Petrol 63.1%
EQC-Class 17,921 −4.8% 272 Electric 83.6%
SL-Class 15,428 −3.8% 5,870 Petrol 82.9%
V-Class 14,848 +9.8% 1,180 Diesel 81.1%
Vito 12,952 +6.8% 1,054 Diesel –
CLC-Class 8,152 −10.8% 1,038 Petrol 55.8%
EQE-Class 8,150 +28.5% 92 Electric –
SLC-Class 7,936 −0.5% 161 Petrol 85.1%
200 6,094 +2.7% 6,539 Petrol –
CLE-Class 4,002 +67.5% 31 Hybrid –
Viano 3,828 −8.7% 1,156 Diesel 65.6%
GLS-Class 3,478 +3.5% 245 Diesel 86.4%
300 2,830 −3.7% 5,162 Petrol –
GL-Class 2,721 −8.4% 810 Diesel 81.9%
G-Class 2,370 +22.7% 433 Diesel 87.2%
190 2,201 −3.0% 4,920 Petrol 72.2%
EQS-Class 2,091 +14.6% 66 Electric –
CL-Class 2,001 −7.2% 1,756 Petrol 78.9%
Sprinter 1,915 +6.5% 108 Diesel –
R-Class 1,325 −13.7% 669 Diesel 72.3%
500 1,263 +3.3% 2,172 Petrol –
EQV-Class 957 +8.0% 36 Electric 87.4%
Citan 874 −4.1% 161 Diesel –
350 811 −3.9% 629 Petrol –
AMG G Class 734 +88.7% 46 Hybrid –
380 648 +8.7% 565 Petrol –
AMG GLC Class 548 +159.7% 2 Hybrid –
450 441 −2.6% 507 Petrol –
420 437 +0.9% 685 Petrol –
eVito 422 +2.9% 18 Electric –
AMG C Class 375 +153.4% 2 Hybrid –
SLS-Class 235 −8.2% 153 Petrol –
AMG GT Class 235 +135.0% 4 Petrol –
Vaneo 215 −23.2% 307 Petrol –
Coleman Milne 181 +46.0% 0 Hybrid –
AMG E Class 165 +150.0% 7 Plug-in hybrid –
560 140 +2.9% 429 Petrol –
320 124 −6.1% 253 Petrol –

MOT pass rates are first-time passes of cars aged three and over in 2025. A dash means too few tests, or a model DVSA’s records do not separate from vans.

New Mercedes-Benz cars registered each year

Registrations of new Mercedes-Benz cars in Great Britain peaked at 179,728 in 2017. In 2025, 90,233 were registered for the first time: 4.5% of all new cars, against 7.4% in 2019, Mercedes-Benz’s best year for share of new cars.

Registered for the first time, by year

Mercedes-Benz cars registered for the first time in Great Britain, by year
Year First registrations
’01 84,863
’02 88,588
’03 97,543
’04 82,719
’05 82,164
’06 80,836
’07 81,409
’08 74,275
’09 72,720
’10 74,989
’11 80,752
’12 90,760
’13 108,339
’14 123,461
’15 144,447
’16 169,010
’17 179,728
’18 171,502
’19 170,897
’20 110,333
’21 97,780
’22 80,606
’23 88,149
’24 103,299
’25 90,233

Source:DfT / DVLA 2001 to 2025 Updated

Share of all new cars

Mercedes-Benz’s first registrations as a share of every car registered for the first time in Great Britain that year.

Mercedes-Benz share of all new cars registered in Great Britain, by year
Year Share of new cars
2001 3.3%
2002 3.3%
2003 3.7%
2004 3.2%
2005 3.4%
2006 3.5%
2007 3.4%
2008 3.5%
2009 3.7%
2010 3.8%
2011 4.2%
2012 4.5%
2013 4.9%
2014 5.1%
2015 5.6%
2016 6.3%
2017 7.2%
2018 7.3%
2019 7.4%
2020 6.8%
2021 6.0%
2022 5.0%
2023 4.6%
2024 5.3%
2025 4.5%

Source:DfT / DVLA 2001 to 2025 Updated

Mercedes-Benz MOT reliability

In 2025, 77.8% of MOT tests of Mercedes-Benz cars were passed first time, from 1,576,897 tests. Cars of the same ages pass 74.3% of the time, so Mercedes-Benz does better than average for the age of its cars, by 3.5 points. That ranks Mercedes-Benz No. 18 of the 50 makes with enough tests to compare. 7.3% of Mercedes-Benz tests found at least one dangerous defect, against 7.3% for all cars.

Among Mercedes-Benz models with enough tests, the SL-Class does best for its age (+19.0 points against cars of the same ages) and the EQC-Class does worst (−4.8 points). Average age at test for Mercedes-Benz cars: 10.1 years.

Mercedes-Benz models by MOT pass rate against cars of the same ages, 2025
Model Tests Pass rate Same ages Difference
SL-Class 20,771 82.9% 63.9% +19.0 pts
CL-Class 2,865 78.9% 60.8% +18.1 pts
GL-Class 3,455 81.9% 66.8% +15.1 pts
S-Class 25,742 83.6% 71.4% +12.2 pts
190 2,521 72.2% 61.0% +11.2 pts
R-Class 1,766 72.3% 61.2% +11.1 pts
SLK-Class 54,180 71.9% 63.3% +8.6 pts
ML-Class 29,251 72.2% 63.7% +8.5 pts
G-Class 3,527 87.2% 80.3% +6.9 pts
SLC-Class 8,983 85.1% 78.9% +6.2 pts
CLS-Class 22,322 74.6% 68.5% +6.1 pts
E-Class 230,117 77.4% 72.3% +5.1 pts
GLE-Class 33,118 87.1% 82.6% +4.5 pts
GLS-Class 3,025 86.4% 82.6% +3.8 pts
GLC-Class 83,770 86.3% 82.6% +3.7 pts
C-Class 358,848 74.6% 71.0% +3.6 pts
CLK-Class 25,047 63.1% 59.6% +3.5 pts
Viano 5,004 65.6% 62.3% +3.3 pts
B-Class 71,047 72.6% 70.3% +2.3 pts
GLA-Class 91,110 83.2% 81.1% +2.1 pts
GLB-Class 11,929 89.9% 88.4% +1.5 pts
V-Class 12,964 81.1% 80.1% +1.0 pts
EQA-Class 9,595 89.6% 88.6% +1.0 pts
A-Class 363,355 78.3% 77.5% +0.8 pts
CLA-Class 74,291 80.6% 81.4% −0.8 pts
EQV-Class 1,121 87.4% 88.3% −0.9 pts
CLC-Class 7,985 55.8% 58.7% −2.9 pts
EQB-Class 2,725 85.1% 89.4% −4.3 pts
EQC-Class 12,500 83.6% 88.4% −4.8 pts

Every make and model ranked on MOT results

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis 2025 Updated

Mercedes-Benz safety recalls

DVSA lists 577 safety recalls naming a Mercedes-Benz car model since 1992, across 35 models. 459 were launched from 2016 to 2025, ranking Mercedes-Benz No. 1 of the makes with recalls in those years. A recall naming several Mercedes-Benz models counts once.

Recalls launched each year, 2006 to 2025

Safety recalls naming a Mercedes-Benz car model, by year launched
Year Recalls
’06 9
’07 4
’08 9
’09 5
’10 7
’11 7
’12 10
’13 9
’14 4
’15 21
’16 28
’17 34
’18 44
’19 60
’20 60
’21 67
’22 73
’23 46
’24 29
’25 18

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Models with the most recalls

Mercedes-Benz models with the most safety recalls since 1992
Model Recalls
Mercedes-Benz C-Class 153
Mercedes-Benz E-Class 139
Mercedes-Benz A-Class 92
Mercedes-Benz S-Class 89
Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class 73
Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class 70
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class 66
Mercedes-Benz B-Class 47
Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class 45
Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class 45

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Latest Mercedes-Benz recalls

Models mostly registered as vans are left out, as on our recalls hub. A recall applies to vehicles built on particular dates or with particular VINs, not to every Mercedes-Benz. To check a specific car, use GOV.UK’s vehicle recall check. How we match recalls to models.

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Makes of a similar size

Mercedes-Benz compared with makes of a similar size
Rank Make Licensed Change on a year Main fuel MOT vs same ages
4 BMW 2,067,127 +1.2% Diesel +5.6 pts
5 Audi 1,995,404 +1.9% Petrol +4.7 pts
6 Toyota 1,793,092 +2.3% Petrol +2.8 pts
7 Mercedes-Benz 1,747,692 +1.1% Diesel +3.5 pts
8 Nissan 1,707,953 +0.7% Petrol −4.3 pts
9 Kia 1,297,947 +6.1% Petrol −1.4 pts
10 Peugeot 1,227,184 −1.0% Petrol −5.2 pts

Data stories to read next

All insights

Data sources and methodology

Datasets used on this page
Figures Source Period Records Updated
Licensed and SORN counts Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport End of June 2026 37,519,147 car records (licensed and SORN) 2 October 2026
Registered for the first time Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport 2001 to 2025 – 2 October 2026
MOT results Anonymised MOT tests and results Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
Derived statistics UK Motoring 		2025 29,122,953 car MOT tests 19 September 2026
Safety recalls Vehicle safety recalls Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
Derived statistics UK Motoring 		January 1992 to September 2026 7,495 road vehicle recalls (R/) 15 September 2026
  • Figures cover Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Northern Ireland is not included.
  • Make totals count every car DVLA records under the make, including models too small for a page of their own. The rank is among all 529 makes on the record.
  • Licensed counts are vehicles with a current tax or exemption at the end of each year (or the latest quarter). SORN counts are shown separately.
  • First registrations count cars registered in Great Britain for the first time, including used imports.
  • MOT figures cover normal tests of cars aged three and over; retests are excluded. The same-ages figure is what all cars would score with this make’s mix of ages.
How we calculate these figures All data sources

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.