September 2018: Mercedes-Benz USA

[William Maley]

Mercedes-Benz USA reports September sales of 26,169 units

• Mercedes-Benz Vans posts best-ever month

Oct 2, 2018 – ATLANTA: Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported September sales of 26,169 Mercedes-Benz models, a decrease of 9.8% from September 2017. Mercedes-Benz Vans reported best-ever month of 4,448 units (up 44.0%) and smart reported 98 units, bringing MBUSA to a grand total of 30,715 vehicles for the month. On a year-to-date basis, sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles totaled 225,384, with an additional 28,023 units for Vans and 959 vehicles for smart, bringing the sales volume to 254,366, a decrease of 5.8% from last year.

"Customer demand remains consistently strong, but our inventory levels are still impacted by delays in availability of many of our most popular 2019 models," said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of MBUSA. "We expect increased availability throughout October and for the remainder of the year."

Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in September included the GLC, C-Class and E-Class model lines. The GLC took the lead at 6,070, followed by C-Class sales of 4,682. The E-Class rounded out the top three with 4,072 units sold.

September sales of Mercedes-AMG high-performance totaled 1,378 units, with 20,738 vehicles sold year-to-date.

Mercedes-Benz Passenger Vehicles	Sep-18	Sep-17	Monthly %	YTD 2018	YTD 2017	Yearly %
B-CLASS*	0	87	_	133	543	-75.5%
CLA	2,377	2,034	16.9%	17,148	14,692	16.7%
C-CLASS	4,682	6,194	-24.4%	42,252	58,959	-28.3%
E-CLASS/CLS	4,072	4,166	-2.3%	32,013	36,511	-12.3%
S-CLASS	684	1,053	-35.0%	10,334	10,673	-3.2%
SLC	125	195	-35.9%	1,506	2,188	-31.2%
SL	134	261	-48.7%	1,569	2,075	-24.4%
AMG GT	89	60	48.3%	1,207	896	34.7%
GLA	2,436	2,440	-0.2%	17,235	17,017	1.3%
GLC	6,070	4,662	30.2%	50,585	32,889	53.8%
GLE	3,807	4,583	-16.9%	34,617	39,035	-11.3%
GLS	1,554	2,922	-46.8%	14,405	23,461	-38.6%
G-CLASS	139	351	-60.4%	2,380	3,311	-28.1%
TOTAL	26,169	29,008	-9.8%	225,384	242,250	-7.0%
Vans1	4,448	3,088	44.0%	28,023	25,227	11.1%
smart	98	241	-59.3%	959	2,635	-63.6%
MBUSA Combined Total	Sep-18	Sep-17	Monthly %	YTD 2018	YTD 2017	Yearly %
GRAND TOTAL	30,715	32,337	-5.0%	254,366	270,112	-5.8%
*Discontinued model 1Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner Sprinter and Metris Vans are sold and marketed in the U.S. by Mercedes-Benz USA and Daimler Vans USA, respectively.

 

[balthazar]

On 8/2/2018 at 6:50 PM, smk4565 said:

This is one bad month, if this is still going on 3 months from now they can worry, one bad month doesn’t make a year.

July : down 5%
August : down 20%
September : down 10%.

Are they worrying yet?

[David]

8 minutes ago, balthazar said:

July : down 5%
August : down 20%
September : down 10%.

Are they worrying yet?

Just be glad they are not adding them as down 35% would cost a CEO his job! 

[smk4565]

2 hours ago, balthazar said:

July : down 5%
August : down 20%
September : down 10%.

Are they worrying yet?

3 in a row is concerning, mainly because of the weak volume out of the GLE, GLS, and G-wagen.  The new G-wagen isn't on sale yet, and the GLE/GLS are the most dated products they have and they don't have new ones out yet and it is showing.  They need the new SUVs in dealerships.  They are designing and showing off this great product like E53 range, the EQ C, G560, etc but it isn't in the dealership, they need to get production on this new stuff cranking, and in other parts of the world some if this stuff is on sale.

C-class being down so much for the year I think is part crossover mania, and part Tesla Model 3 taking sedan sales away.  So I think they need to get the EV's to fend that off.   Awesome month from vans though, new Sprinter (made in America) is kicking butt.

With that said, YTD sales:

Mercedes:  225,384

BMW:   225,065

Lexus: 213,612

2 hours ago, dfelt said:

Just be glad they are not adding them as down 35% would cost a CEO his job! 

Well Dieter Zetsche is stepping down as Daimler CEO in 2019, but will take over as chairman of the board in 2021.

[balthazar]

47 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Awesome month from vans though, new Sprinter (made in America) is kicking butt.

Ford is killing Freightliner/mercedes in vans tho, and the Sprinter was here first in Eurovans (with 3 rebadges, too)

Transit Connect : 23,216
Transit : 106,463
plus they are still seeing demand for the E-Series : 36,549 (that alone is killing MB's vans).

That's 166K to mercedes' 28K. A bloodbath; MB ain't kicking no one's butt.

Edited October 2, 2018 by balthazar

[smk4565]

46 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Ford is killing Freightliner/mercedes in vans tho, and the Sprinter was here first in Eurovans (with 3 rebadges, too)

Transit Connect : 23,216
Transit : 106,463
plus they are still seeing demand for the E-Series : 36,549 (that alone is killing MB's vans).

That's 166K to mercedes' 28K. A bloodbath; MB ain't kicking no one's butt.

Amazon just ordered 20,000 Sprinters.   With the new factory now in South Carolina their growth in the US will continue.  Without the chicken tax and import taxes, etc that Sprinter price is closer to the Transit.  

[balthazar]

Yeah, but the Company is going to bring back the Freightliner nameplate, effectively splitting the sales report into 2 brands. A rebadge now when they should be focusing all their energies and advertising behind one nameplate in a massively uphill sales battle makes no sense.

Edited October 2, 2018 by balthazar

[David]

33 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Amazon just ordered 20,000 Sprinters.   With the new factory now in South Carolina their growth in the US will continue.  Without the chicken tax and import taxes, etc that Sprinter price is closer to the Transit.  

So preloading your hype of MB Sales only makes it 48K versus 166K still nothing to crow about nor is vaporware talk about local production. Wait n See!

[smk4565]

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

Yeah, but the Company is going to bring back the Freightliner nameplate, effectively splitting the sales report into 2 brands. A rebadge now when they should be focusing all their energies and advertising behind one nameplate in a massively uphill sales battle makes no sense.

I imagine it is for dealer network they want it at both places.  Freightliner does have over 40% market share in medium and heavy duty trucks, so they are the go to spot for most commercial operations.  There aren't a ton of MB Vans dealers.  Vans were up 44% last month, Transit was down 15% last month.  Mercedes is growing, I am sure they are happy with that.  Plus Ford has way more dealers to sell Transits at which makes it easier to sell retail and not just commercial which is sort of how Sprinter is positioned, and the Sprinter is the premium cargo van, the Ram is the discount leader.

We are also talking about the #1 selling luxury brand who is rapidly growing in commercial vans, no one else does both markets well.

Edited October 3, 2018 by smk4565

[balthazar]

Sprinter has been in production since '95, it should be the 'F-Series' of Eurovans by now. Ford Transit has only been in the USDM since 2015, but Ford knows how to built/sell LD trucks better than anyone. Transit sales could drop off 75% (they won't) and it'd still outsell the sprinter. Mercedes has to benchmark the Transit if it wants to be a player in the segment.

[David]

2 hours ago, smk4565 said:

I imagine it is for dealer network they want it at both places.  Freightliner does have over 40% market share in medium and heavy duty trucks, so they are the go to spot for most commercial operations.  There aren't a ton of MB Vans dealers.  Vans were up 44% last month, Transit was down 15% last month.  Mercedes is growing, I am sure they are happy with that.  Plus Ford has way more dealers to sell Transits at which makes it easier to sell retail and not just commercial which is sort of how Sprinter is positioned, and the Sprinter is the premium cargo van, the Ram is the discount leader.

We are also talking about the #1 selling luxury brand who is rapidly growing in commercial vans, no one else does both markets well.

Guess the best or nothing is proving itself as nothing for buyers with 3 months of continued sales loss, lack luster Van sales and the MB dealerships having vans front and center on their lots rather than cars / cuvs. 

It really is an amazing tell when you go by a LUXURY dealership and see cargo vans as the predominant auto on the lot.

One has to go Hmmmmmm! 🤔