Mercedes plans bigger share for S-class

MERCEDES-Benz will produce more than 80,000 examples of its new top-range car next year as the company aims to extend its dominance of worldwide luxury motoring. We are once again setting the standards at the top of the line - and we aim to prove it by expanding our current luxury market share of 42% to around 50%,' said Daimler-Benz passenger car chief Jurgen Hubbert as he introduced the new S-class at the Paris Motor Show.

The new range - expected to go on sale next spring - will play a key role in consolidating the company's position in the US, western Europe and Japan. Chief executive officer Jurgen Schrempp described the S-class - the 10th new Mercedes in the last three years - as 'the embodiment of everything that defines the brand'.