September 2013: Mercedes-Benz USA

[William Maley]

Mercedes-Benz Delivers Banner Q3 Finish With September Sales Of 24,697

• MBUSA posts ninth month of record sales for 2013 at 236,933

MONTVALE, N.J., Oct. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported the highest September sales in its history with 27,474 units sold across the Mercedes-Benz, Sprinter and smart model lines—an increase of 5.8% from the 25,980 vehicles sold in September 2012. Retail volumes for the Mercedes-Benz brand rose 6.7% over the same period last year to 24,697, while year-to-date sales hit a benchmark 215,056 units, up 12.2%. Adding year-to-date sales of 14,940 for Sprinter Vans and 6,937 vehicles at smart, MBUSA's year-to-date total reached 236,933 units, marking a best-ever third quarter for both the Mercedes-Benz brand and MBUSA.

"We're making history this month and not just in terms of our record sales pace," said Steve Cannon, president and CEO of MBUSA. "September marked a recalibration moment for Mercedes-Benz as we began delivery of our new gateway, the CLA, to dealerships across the country. After just over a week on the market, this car sold more than 2,300 units. We're confident the CLA will be a driving point of our success as we head toward another banner sales year."

September sales for the Mercedes-Benz brand were led by the C-, E- and M-Class model lines. The sporty C-Class took the top spot at 6,389 units sold, followed by the E-Class with sales of 5,647 vehicles, up 17.0%. MBUSA's top-selling SUV, the M-Class, rounded out the top three at 3,180 units, a 30.4% increase over the same period last year.

In total, sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars climbed 10.9% compared to the first three quarters of 2012, increasing to 138,282 from 124,637. Likewise, the brand's light truck offerings were up 14.6% from the 66,981 units sold in the first nine months of 2012 to 76,774 in 2013.

The Sprinter model line posted a month-to-date increase of 20.0% to 2,152 units, boosted by sales of the redesigned 2014 lineup which began rolling into dealerships at the beginning of September. Month-to-date volumes at smart reached 625 units.

Sales of Mercedes-Benz's BlueTEC diesel models were 1,364 in September, up 193.3% from the 465 vehicles sold during the same period last year. The company's high-performance AMG models finished the month with sales of 675, up 48.4% fromSeptember 2012.

Separately, through the Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned (MBCPO) program, MBUSA sold 6,649 vehicles in September. On a year-to-date basis, MBCPO sold 72,890 vehicles, up 22.3% over the 59,586 units sold during the comparable period in 2012.

[smk4565]

What will be curious here is how the CLA affects the C-class. The C-class is in its final model year with a new one coming next year, so will the CLA eat into C-class sales, or will the new C-class sell as same as the old and the CLA be gravy on top. The E-class is on fire, it is dominating all rivals, only the 5-series topped 1700 sales last month in this segment and the E-class was near 5700.