Mercedes hopes GLK will bring in first-time customers, gives a shoutout to Lexus

With the BMW X3 eating up the small luxury SUV market and with the introduction of Infiniti’s EX last week, Mercedes is getting ready to launch its small GLK SUV in 2009.

“There is one SUV segment that is exploding with growth, and that is the small or entry SUV,” Bernhard Glasser, head of product management at Mercedes-Benz USA, told Automotive News.

Mercedes’ SUV sales accounted for 29.1 percent of total U.S. sales so far for 2007, up from 11.9 percent 10 years ago when Mercedes launched its first SUV, the M class. Glasser pointed to Lexus as an example of an automaker with a strong percentage of light-truck sales. With that in mind, Glasser says the percentage of Mercedes-Benz SUVs are likely to increase...
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david999 - 8/20/2007 1:30:25 PM

+1 Boost

Merecdes will probably do well with this SUV. I hope it is much better quality and reliability wise compared the the ML, although i doubt it.

S4cabriofoxone - 8/20/2007 4:57:46 PM

0 Boost

ML (current) is a very high-quality vehicle. It's simply a Mercedified RX350. They're really quite similar. But I can see why you wouldn't think so- the last-gen left a bad taste in my mouth.

EnnNorak - 8/21/2007 11:14:39 AM

+1 Boost

I've had many Audis but never a Mercedes because Mercedes always managed to piss me off one way or another. My wife wants a small SUV and the GLK may just fit the bill, making me a first-time Mercedes customer.

Czelinski - 8/20/2007 2:18:48 PM

-1 Boost

The latest ML is reliable and has fantastic build quality, even the previous model after the facelift improved vastly! And incase you hadn't noticed, all the new MBs are returning to the past, rock solid nothing can touch them build quality. You will see the KING rise to where it once was, the top.

M53R - 8/20/2007 2:36:53 PM

+2 Boost

Isnt the new Ml a 2006 model?

S4cabriofoxone - 8/20/2007 4:58:55 PM

+1 Boost

06, he means NOW. Starting with the S and CL, all the new Benzes are going to be very reliable. The W221 has not had any significant reliability problems to report, like the old one.

Czelinski - 8/20/2007 2:36:43 PM

0 Boost

Fair enough, I was on about the European models. Maybe you Americans get ripped off...but still you don't deny they're on their way back.

autopro - 8/20/2007 3:07:35 PM

+1 Boost

My local mercedes dealer is owned by Tom Benson also owmer of the Saints.He wanted to bail after Katrina.I wouldn't buy a pack of gum from this ass H**E this is after the city supported those losers for thirty years.The dealer sucks.That what you people don't factor in to decisions on which luxury car to buy.I think their all good in their own way,its the people I'm buying from and how they treat me.

S4cabriofoxone - 8/20/2007 5:00:50 PM

0 Boost

Acura RDX
Audi Q5
BMW X3
Cadillac BLX (?)
Infiniti EX
Land Rover LR2
Lexus IX or RX SWB
Mercedes-Benz GLK
Volvo XC60

Think that's enough?