Sept. 2006 Sales: Mercedes-Benz USA

[Variance]

Sept. 2006 Sales: Mercedes-Benz USA

MONTVALE, N.J., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported its highest September on record with sales of 19,873 new vehicles, an increase of 13.2 percent over last September. This brings MBUSA's year-to-date sales to 177,001, a 13.3 percent increase over the same period in 2005.

Sales volume for the month was led by the C-Class with 4,238 units and

the E-Class with 4,112 units. Highlights for the month include an increase

in sales of the flagship S-Class which rose by 126.4 percent over September

2005 (2,357 v. 1,041 units) and a 10 percent jump in sales of the CLS-Class

four- door coupe (943 v. 857 units). In addition, sales of Mercedes-Benz

sedans posted year-to-date sales of 91,244, representing a seven percent

increase over year-to-date sales in 2005 of 85,278.

Sales for Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the luxury light truck segment --

M-Class, R-Class, GL-Class and G-Class -- continue to demonstrate

impressive gains with a combined 84.5 percent increase over last September

and an 86.6 percent increase over year-to-date 2005 (47,354 v. 25,372).

Separately, through the Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned program,

MBUSA sold 4,305 vehicles in September, an increase of 30.7 percent over

September 2005, bringing the year-to-date total to 35,787 units, a 5.5

percent increase over year-to-date 2005.

In 2005, MBUSA achieved its twelfth consecutive year of sales growth by

setting the highest sales volume in its history with 224,421 new vehicle

sales. Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., MBUSA is responsible for the sales,

marketing and service of all Mercedes-Benz products in the United States.

More information on MBUSA and its products can be found on the Internet at

http://www.mbusa.com.

Model        Sept '06  Sept '05  Monthly %  YTD 2006  YTD 2005  Yearly %

    C-CLASS         4,238   5,050    -16.1%     36,771     41,369   -11.1%

    E-CLASS         4,112   4,544     -9.5%     33,266     35,495    -6.3%

    S-CLASS         2,357   1,041    126.4%     22,601     11,321    99.6%

    CL-CLASS           41      87    -52.9%        476        919   -48.2%

    SL-CLASS          557     755    -26.2%      6,913      7,449    -7.2%

    CLK-CLASS         963   1,121    -14.1%     12,841    14,158     -9.3%

    SLK-CLASS         702     867    -19.0%      8,623      8,514     1.3%

    CLS-CLASS         943     857     10.0%      8,156     11,647   -30.0%

    R-CLASS         1,276     386    230.6%     14,131        386  3560.9%

    M-CLASS         2,706   2,727     -0.8%     21,790     23,998    -9.2%

    GL-CLASS        1,937     n/a      n/a      10,939        n/a     n/a

    G-CLASS            41     117    -65.0%        494        988   -50.0%

    GRAND TOTAL    19,873    17,552   13.2%    177,001    156,244     13.3%

[source: Mercedes-Benz USA]