December 2018: Mercedes-Benz USA

[William Maley]

Mercedes-Benz reports December sales of 32,016 units

Jan 3, 2019 – ATLANTA: Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported December sales of 32,016 Mercedes- Benz models. Mercedes-Benz Vans reported best-ever December sales with 4,116 units and smart reported 122 units, bringing MBUSA to a grand total of 36,254 vehicles for the month. On a year- to-date basis, sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles totaled 315,959, with an additional 38,178 units for Vans and 1,276 vehicles for smart, bringing the total sales volume to 355,413.

"Despite the delayed availability of some of our most popular models in 2018, we achieved a solid closing of the year thanks to the excellent work of our dealers. We are excited to welcome the next chapter of our product offensive including the all-new A-Class, GLE and Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe in the coming months," said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of MBUSA. "With the youngest and most comprehensive lineup in the luxury segment, we will continue to advance our position in the marketplace."

Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in December included the GLC, C-Class and E-Class model lines. The GLC took the lead at 7,294, followed by C-Class sales of 6,799. The E-Class rounded out the top three with 5,042 units sold.

December sales of Mercedes-AMG high-performance totaled 4,132 units, with 28,940 vehicles sold year-to-date.

Mercedes-Benz Passenger Vehicles	Dec-18	Dec-17	Monthly %	YTD 2018	YTD 2017	Yearly %
B-CLASS	1	111	_	135	744	-81.9%
CLA	1,708	2,279	-25.1%	22,556	20,669	9.1%
C-CLASS	6,799	6,500	4.6%	60,409	77,447	-22.0%
E-CLASS/CLS	5,042	5,385	-6.4%	46,422	51,312	-9.5%
S-CLASS	1,486	2,184	-32.0%	14,978	15,888	-5.7%
SLC	152	260	-41.5%	1,993	2,860	-30.3%
SL	158	277	-43.0%	2,126	2,940	-27.7%
AMG GT	136	183	-25.7%	1,525	1,608	-5.2%
GLA	2,397	2,580	-7.1%	24,136	24,104	0.1%
GLC	7,294	6,152	18.6%	69,727	48,643	43.3%
GLE	3,734	5,823	-35.9%	46,010	54,595	-15.7%
GLS	2,664	2,998	-11.1%	21,972	32,248	-31.9%
G-CLASS	445	471	-5.5%	3,970	4,188	-5.2%
TOTAL	32,016	35,203	-9.1%	315,959	337,246	-6.3%
Vans1	4,116	4,047	1.7%	38,178	34,994	9.1%
smart	122	166	-26.5%	1,276	3,071	-58.5%
MBUSA Combined Total	Dec-18	Dec-17	Monthly %	YTD 2018	YTD 2017	Yearly %
GRAND TOTAL	36,254	39,416	-8.0%	355,413	375,311	-5.3%
1 Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner Sprinter and Metris Vans are sold and marketed in the U.S. by Mercedes-Benz USA and Daimler Vans USA, respectively.

[smk4565]

Even on a bad year, Mercedes Cars were #1 selling luxury brand.  They need that new GLE and GLB, SUV’s are hot and the GLC is on fire but the rest are dated.

[Drew Dowdell]

Tesla is catching up to MB quickly.

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Tesla is catching up to MB quickly.

Hopefully they can put downward pressure on marginal players in the Luxury field like Acura, Infinity, Lincoln and the like. Really like both Tesla and Benz much better. 

[smk4565]

11 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Tesla is catching up to MB quickly.

Yes they are, Tesla has surpassed Audi.  What will be interesting is if that was just pent up demand for the Model 3 and once those orders are filled if the sales will decline.  But I think not, I think Tesla is the hot brand and people want it.  Mercedes better come strong with their EV's and build a better EV than Tesla.  They need to battle Tesla while battling BMW, Audi and Porsche which is a tall task because we know what happens when the Germans get stuck in a two front war.  Hopefully the massive Daimler R&D budget can get them through it.

[balthazar]

The troubling sign for Daimler is every product except for the CLA, GLC, and the cargo vans were down for the year.  And the c-class, SLC, SL, GLE & GLS are getting killed.  That leaves the bottom 2 cheap models and the GLC as the only growth and a recession could curtail that in a hurry.

- - - - -
Regarding Tesla, unfortunately mercedes is way late to the game; they've hawked some terribly lackluster hybrids to date that they found impossible to sell, and it just makes the brand look like they are unable to remotely compete. They will always be playing catch up to Tesla, who has lightning in the bottle over in CA.

Edited January 5, 2019 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

8 hours ago, balthazar said:

The troubling sign for Daimler is every product except for the CLA, GLC, and the cargo vans were down for the year.  And the c-class, SLC, SL, GLE & GLS are getting killed.  That leaves the bottom 2 cheap models and the GLC as the only growth and a recession could curtail that in a hurry.

 

I think the standard story is 'wait till next year'...the S-class, GLE and GLS are all getting redesigned soon..the next GLE has all ready been shown.   SLC and SL would make sense being down in winter, since they are convertible 2 seaters. 

Edited January 5, 2019 by Robert Hall

[balthazar]

Maybe Daimler should go to quarterly sales reporting. ;)

[A Horse With No Name]

5 hours ago, balthazar said:

Maybe Daimler should go to quarterly sales reporting.

The pain would be less frequent.