December 2016: Mercedes-Benz USA

[William Maley]

Mercedes-Benz USA Reports Best Year Ever With 2016 Sales Of 380,752 Units

ATLANTA, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) closed out 2016 with its highest annual volume in the U.S. market, topping 2015's best ever record. MBUSA today reported December sales of 37,057 vehicles. Mercedes-Benz Vans reported December sales with 3,860 units, and smart reported 1,186 units, bringing MBUSA's grand total to 37,057 vehicles for the month. On a year-to-date basis, Mercedes-Benz retails totaled 340,237. Adding year-to-date-sales of 34,304 for Vans and 6,211 for smart, MBUSA posted a grand total of 380,752 units in December, increasing 0.1% from the previous year.

"MBUSA maintained a consistent pace throughout the year, which led us to our best sales result ever. In 2016, Mercedes-Benz was the best-selling luxury franchise in the U.S.," said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of MBUSA. "I want to thank Stuttgart, our dealers and everyone at MBUSA for helping us to have such an incredible year."

Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in December included the C-Class, GLE and E-Class (including the CLS) model lines. The C-Class took the lead at 7,345, followed by the GLE at 5,574. The E-Class rounded out the top three with 4,851 units sold.

Mercedes-AMG high-performance models sold 3,126 units in December, with a total of 23,261 units sold year-to-date (up 33.3%).

MERCEDES-BENZ USA  Sales -- December 2016
Mercedes-Benz  Passenger Vehicles	Dec-16	Dec-15	Monthly %	YTD 2016	YTD 2015	Yearly %
B-CLASS	54	97	-44.3%	632	1,906	-66.8%
CLA	1,876	1,912	-1.9%	25,792	29,643	-13.0%
C-CLASS	7,345	7,023	4.6%	77,167	86,080	-10.4%
E-CLASS/CLS	4,851	5,580	-13.1%	50,896	55,888	-8.9%
S-CLASS	1,494	2,163	-30.9%	18,803	21,988	-14.5%
SLC/SLK	330	290	13.8%	3,397	4,182	-18.8%
SL	304	380	-20.0%	3,722	4,060	-8.3%
AMG GT	99	162	-38.9%	1,227	1,277	-3.9%
*SLS AMG	0	0	-	1	29	-
GLA	2,351	2,200	6.9%	24,545	25,593	-4.1%
GLC/GLK	4,018	4,366	-8.0%	47,872	27,902	71.6%
GLE/M-CLASS	5,574	6,640	-16.1%	51,791	53,217	-2.7%
GL/GLS	3,262	2,849	14.5%	30,442	27,707	9.9%
G-CLASS	453	541	-16.3%	3,950	3,616	9.2%
TOTAL	32,011	34,203	-6.4%	340,237	343,088	-0.8%
Vans1	3,860	4,046	-4.6%	34,304	29,889	14.8%
smart	1,186	669	77.3%	6,211	7,484	-17.0%
MBUSA  Combined Total	Dec-16	Dec-15	Monthly %	YTD 2016	YTD 2015	Yearly %
GRAND TOTAL	37,057	38,918	-4.8%	380,752	380,461	0.1%
1Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner Sprinter and Metris Vans are sold and marketed in the U.S. by Mercedes-Benz USA and Daimler Vans USA, respectively. *out of production

[smk4565]

The Best Ever, or Nothing yet again.  Although Mercedes cars were down 1% for the year so the headline is a bit misleading, however they still won the luxury sales crown, Lexus was down, BMW down 9.5%.  Would be nice to see E-class sales rise with the new coupe and E43 models.   The GLE outsold the E-class in 2016, 20 years ago Mercedes didn't even have an SUV, that is a pretty big market shift.