February 2018: Mercedes-Benz USA

[William Maley]

Mercedes-Benz USA posts best-ever February sales volume with 24,760 units

Mar 1, 2018 – ATLANTA: Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported best-ever February sales of 24,760 units, increasing 1.0% from the 24,522 vehicles sold during the same month last year. Mercedes- Benz Vans also reported best-ever February sales with 3,028 units (up 20.5%) and smart reported 106 units, bringing the MBUSA grand total to 27,894 vehicles for the month, up 1.9% from the same month last year. On a year-to-date basis, Mercedes-Benz recorded sales of 50,067, adding 5,219 units for Vans and 211 vehicles for smart, MBUSA's year-to-date sales volume totaled 55,497 (up 0.4%).

"We're off to a solid start to what will be another successful year," said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of MBUSA. "Growing demand for the S-Class and GLC model lines helped us set a new record for February, and we look forward to a strong close to the first quarter."

Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in February included the GLC, E-Class (including the CLS) and C-Class model lines. The GLC took the lead at 5,403, followed by E-Class sales of 4,312. The C-Class rounded out the top three with 3,947 units sold.

Mercedes-AMG high-performance models sold 2,469 units in February, with a total of 4,923 units sold year-to-date.

Mercedes-Benz Passenger Vehicles	Feb-18	Feb-17	Monthly %	YTD 2018	YTD 2017	Yearly %
B-CLASS	49	56	-12.5%	89	109	-18.3%
CLA	1,512	1,526	-0.9%	3,506	2,931	19.6%
C-CLASS	3,947	6,145	-35.8%	8,366	12,598	-33.6%
E-CLASS/CLS	4,312	3,471	24.2%	8,411	7,626	10.3%
S-CLASS	1,369	1,002	36.6%	2,938	2,214	32.7%
SLC	195	268	-27.2%	362	504	-28.2%
SL	245	230	6.5%	413	462	-10.6%
AMG GT	138	93	48.4%	267	174	53.4%
GLA	1,860	2,194	-15.2%	4,270	4,201	1.6%
GLC	5,403	2,765	95.4%	10,196	5,830	74.9%
GLE	3,595	4,017	-10.5%	7,083	7,987	-11.3%
GLS	1,840	2,467	-25.4%	3,522	4,803	-26.7%
G-CLASS	295	288	2.4%	644	610	5.6%
TOTAL	24,760	24,522	1.0%	50,067	50,049	0.0%
Vans1	3,028	2,513	20.5%	5,219	4,562	14.4%
smart	106	348	-69.5%	211	672	-68.6%
MBUSA Combined Total	Feb-18	Feb-17	Monthly %	YTD 2018	YTD 2017	Yearly %
GRAND TOTAL	27,894	27,383	1.9%	55,497	55,283	0.4%
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. *out of production

[ccap41]

Wow, GLC did ALL of the weight lifting here. Good overall month but if you actually look at it.. A lot of things are down and the GLC saved the day. 

Still a very good month overall if they broke their own record. 

[Robert Hall]

Another example of compact CUVs leading the growth...

[David]

4 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Wow, GLC did ALL of the weight lifting here. Good overall month but if you actually look at it.. A lot of things are down and the GLC saved the day. 

Still a very good month overall if they broke their own record. 

Totally agree, if it was not for the GLC, their sales would be really ugly.

[balthazar]

How can a brand show double-digit losses on 3 out of 4 of their SUVs in 2018?

[smk4565]

3 hours ago, balthazar said:

How can a brand show double-digit losses on 3 out of 4 of their SUVs in 2018?

3 out of 5 and look at Ford sales.   The GLE and GLS are in their final model year, they have been around 7 years now, so some drop could be expected, the new ones will fix that and the GLC was on fire.  But all the GLC gains seem to be at the loss of the C-class so was there some special on GLC's last month or something?

This is their Best ever February, even with some SUVs down, the E-class and S-class are proving people still buy sedans, and the big margin SL, G-wagen and AMG GT are all up, so I think this is a good month. 

 

[balthazar]

1 minute ago, smk4565 said:

3 out of 5...

I left out the G, since it's flat sales-wise and basically a weird dinosaur of a SUV that appeals to 3 space aliens, a dozen would-be commandos and 186 Hollyweird-Os. GLS is -according to some- the best in it's class but sales are crashing like the Hindenberg (ook- see what I did there?) The mainstream, volume SUVs number 4.

Perhaps mercedes should double that and have 8 SUVs (or 10). The converts are dead and the CLA is a flop- convert that space over to CUVs / SUVs. I'll give MB one thing, I was sure the s-class was going to drop below 1000 units in Feb- must've had some real good secret hush-hush deals going on to push the needle back over to positive.

[smk4565]

10 hours ago, balthazar said:

I left out the G, since it's flat sales-wise and basically a weird dinosaur of a SUV that appeals to 3 space aliens, a dozen would-be commandos and 186 Hollyweird-Os. GLS is -according to some- the best in it's class but sales are crashing like the Hindenberg (ook- see what I did there?) The mainstream, volume SUVs number 4.

Perhaps mercedes should double that and have 8 SUVs (or 10). The converts are dead and the CLA is a flop- convert that space over to CUVs / SUVs. I'll give MB one thing, I was sure the s-class was going to drop below 1000 units in Feb- must've had some real good secret hush-hush deals going on to push the needle back over to positive.

They have a new GLA, GLB, GLE, GLS coming for 2019, that is 4 new SUVs.  Problem solved.

S-class got a refresh and a new V6 model at $89k to boost sales.

[balthazar]

Not new; additional. Isn't that your usual judgement- more SUVs?

V6 S-class?? Price drop?? Is the world ending soon?
Should be all V8 and V-12s and start at $150K.
Isn't that your usual judgement- more & higher priced?

[smk4565]

8 hours ago, balthazar said:

Not new; additional. Isn't that your usual judgement- more SUVs?

V6 S-class?? Price drop?? Is the world ending soon?
Should be all V8 and V-12s and start at $150K.
Isn't that your usual judgement- more & higher priced?

Additions SUVs are needed for a brand that only has 2 or 3.  Mercedes is about to have 6 and 2 of those have a coupe variant on top of that, plus they make a station wagon.  I think they are covered.

I for a couple years have said they should have a V6 Sclass (although inline six would be better that the Euro model has) because the A8, 7-series and XJ has 6 cylinder models are are like $20,000 cheaper than the S-class.  And that is probably the only way those cars sell, with the V6 S-class they can take away whatever sales the 7-series and A8 have left.

[David]

12 hours ago, smk4565 said:

S-class got a refresh and a new V6 model at $89k to boost sales.

Why the hell would anyone want to buy a V6 powered S-Class for $89K, according to all you say, luxury leadership is all about the TTV8 and the V12. Why is MB going down stream with the S-Class. Seems they are scraping the bottom for every sale they can find.

[smk4565]

14 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Why the hell would anyone want to buy a V6 powered S-Class for $89K, according to all you say, luxury leadership is all about the TTV8 and the V12. Why is MB going down stream with the S-Class. Seems they are scraping the bottom for every sale they can find.

As I said the inline six would be preferred, but there are S-class buyers that are fleet or 75+ years old and for either group a 0-60 of 5.4 seconds is enough, and it gets 28 mpg highway which is pretty good for it's size.   And when Lexus, Audi, BMW and Jaguar all start in the $70s in this segment, the S450 at $89,900 isn't really going down stream.   

That is the beauty of Mercedes, they give engine choice, most of their cars have 3 or 4 engines.  And they did trademark S73, while the S63 is already the fastest car in the segment, they seem to feel the need to top themselves.

[balthazar]

I'm holding out for the inevitable turbo 4 S-class.

[David]

And Yet just last year SMK could only say the world's best Luxury car, S-Class should only have a V8 or bigger motor. Talk about a change of belief.