The presentation of the commercial results of Mercedes-Benz Portugal at the beginning of the month, must have been the last public event of Jörg Heinermann as president of Mercedes-Benz Portugal. The now outgoing president will be replaced by Niels Kowollik next March. Kowollik changes the presidency of Mercedes-Benz Poland for Portugal, in turn Heinermann will assume management functions at Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart.
Two and a half years of intensive work remain behind in Portugal. It was under the baton of Heinermann that Mercedes-Benz achieved the best commercial results ever on national soil, but not only. It was with Heinermann that Portugal gained international prominence within the German giant.
We recall that in recent years Portugal has been the nerve center of the German brand for many actions, among others: international campaigns (with surfer Garrett McNamara), international presentations and for a technical and commercial training center at world level.
More recently — despite the decision having been taken by Daimler — Jörg Heinermann announced the creation of a service center in Portugal, to provide support to the brand's European workshops from Sintra. A center that will initially employ between 25 and 30 people.
At a time of farewell and balance sheet, the Car Ledger posed the following question to Jörg Heinermann: if Portugal were a Mercedes-Benz, which model would it be? The answer was a resounding “Mercedes-AMG GT!”. From the perspective of this 47-year-old German, “Portugal, like the AMG GT, isn't very big… but it's powerful (laughs)! Portugal is also competent and beautiful with our sports car. Portugal could only be compared to a model with these characteristics”, he finished.
2015, the best year ever for Mercedes-Benz Portugal
2015 was the best year ever for Mercedes-Benz in Portugal. The Estrela brand sold 13 525 cars last year, a growth of 32% compared to 2014, thus registering an absolute record in the national market. A market share of 7.6% was also achieved in Portugal, one of the highest in Europe.
Smart, another brand of the Daimler Group, also achieved extremely positive results with a growth rate of around 80%. In total, 2597 smart units were sold last year, corresponding to 1.5% of market share, above that registered in 2014.