Mercedes-Benz Cars Worldwide Sales Drop 25.4 % In February

maybe, but doubtful, since the title of the article is "MB WORLDWIDE Sales...", and as everyone knows, Lexus has hardly any dealers outside the U.S. because they hardly sell anything outside the U.S.

Why is Lexus always mentioned when talking about Mercedes? Lexus is almost a strictly American company aside from various locations worldwide. They may do well in the US but for one reason and one reason only. It's cheaper than Mercedes-Benz and it was marketed directly towards the USDM consumers (example: Cadillac & Lincoln).

That's my point of view so quit sipping on the hatorade.

David, why do you always bring up Lexus in every topic here? Why? It's getting annoying. We know you like Lexus and you're quite biased toward them but enough is enough, seriously.

— Wimmer:

> David, why do you always bring up Lexus in every topic here? Why? It's
> getting annoying. We know you like Lexus and you're quite biased toward
> them but enough is enough, seriously.

david969 is not david999!


david969 is a scumbag that:
- stole david999's avatar and identity
- made his nickname as similar as possible
and posts awfully biased and idiotic comments with the keyword "Lexus" in them to intentionally discredit the true david999 who simply emphasizes values of Japanese brands while retaining respect for any other car makers.

Imagine someone nicknamed "Wimer" or "Wimmmer" who posts nonsense about the Germans and you'll get the point.

Stop crying downtoearthfanboi. The other David is even worse.

I see. I hardly look at the names anymore. I see the avatar and I know who the poster is. My bad.

Audi has an extremely strong chance to become the 2nd largest premium luxury car manufacturer in terms of global sales this year.

The Mercedes-Benz brand has been crushed. A 28% global decline for the month of February is a very serious situation. Audi dropped only 11% globally for the month of February.

To add to Mercedes' troubles, Audi outsold Mercedes globally for the month of January. If this we keeps up we will see a changing of the guard in December for 2nd place.

Madoff has sent pension founds - key source of subsistence for 98,1% of Mercedes customers - down the shitter. No wonder sales have plunged.

Please, they didn't go to the Lexus dealerships, they didn't go to any other dealerships, the entire market is down. In case you didn't see, Lexus sales were DOWN and I am sure if they sold cars in all the world markets, they would be down all over the world, just like everyone else.

This is terrible news for Mercedes-Benz, but the new E should get them back up to where they were last year. Nonetheless, this is a hell of an opportunity for Audi to get up in their grille.
- F666

"NEWS FLASH: MERCEDES-BENZ USA OUTSOLD LEXUS IN THE U.S. FOR FEBRUARY 2009!"

YEAH, BABY!!!

I don't understand how one celebrates one month of beating Lexus in sales in the USA when they haven't done it in what 10 years?

Then on top of that do you know WHY Benz did it?

With the cute ute GLK. So again, they move downmarket to try to outsell them.

Facts are facts.

In tough times it's getting harder for Lexus marketing specialists to fool the people. Customers will now place more value on quality engineering.

Audi steers managers towards optimism
By Daniel Schäfer in Geneva

Published: March 5 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 5 2009 02:00

The head of Audi took a contrarian view to the pervasive gloom clouding the car industry yesterday, saying he expected a slow recovery by the end of the year and called on managers to stop "moaning" about the crisis.

Rupert Stadler, chief executive of Audi, the German premium carmaker, said the last three months of the year could see the first signs of a reversal in the downward trend.

"I do not give up my glimmer of hope, which is that we will see the light at the end of the tunnel by the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010," he said in an interview with the Financial Times.

His words came as car executives around the world were bracing themselves for what could be the worst first quarter in decades.

Analysts expectalmost all large carmakers to incur losses after global sales dropped by about a quarter in the first two months of the year.

Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker and owner of Audi, has not ruled out a loss in the first three months of the year, though it is expected to report a profit when it announces its 2008 full-year earnings next week. Audi is also expected to be profitable.

Mr Stadler said it was time for managers to be more optimistic. "There is always light and shadow. We have two ways. We can all join in the moaning, or we say we can make a virtue out of the plight," he said.

"I am rather doing the latter, looking forward and taking care for some optimism," he said, adding that "moaning is not a management task".

Premium carmakers have been hit particularly hard by the sharp downturn.

Audi became the world's largest premium carmaker in February by volume, leapfrogging BMW even after its sales dropped 11 per cent in February to 63,000 units.

The carmaker aims to gain market share. Mr Stadler said global car sales could drop by 15-20 per cent in 2009. "If our sales fall by 10 per cent to 900,000 units, this would be a great achievement," he said.

Audi did not see the need for extensive cost-cutting plans because it had controlled its costs over the past 10 years, Mr Stadler said.

"It is obvious that in times of a crisis you look into every corner to find further cost-cutting potential. But if we found another €3bn [in superfluous costs], we would not have done our homework in the past," Mr Stadler said.

Daimler and BMW, Audi's main rivals, have pledged to spend less this year to compensate for the much lower level of capacity being used at their plants. Daimler recently announced a plan to reduce costs by several billion euros this year.

Mr Stadler said Audi would launch its small car model, the A1, early next year, aiming for sales of 100,000 units in the following year. He said there was a good demand for small premium cars.

"It is an illusion to think that customers only want to buy a Dacia [Renault's Romanian subsidiary] in the future," he

and someone deboosted you. Figures. Gotta love Autospies.

that "incentiveless" IS250 has $3000 in dealer cash on it here in the good ol' U.S. of A. The IS350 has $4000 and the IS-F has $5000. The ES350 has $5000. The LS460 has $7000, the LS600h $8000. The RX $5000 and the GS (all models, including hybrid) have $6000. I got tired of looking from there but I am fairly sure they all have them.

I'm glad to see you (finally) acknowledge that this whole "bad economy" thing isn't just affecting the Germans. Even mightly Lexus isn't immune.

Let me tell Huu76 about the B-Class.

-Practical, economical, safe, well-built, spacious and a great family car.

Maybe you should try one first before you slam it. I've driven all B-Classes, even the mighty B200 Turbo, and found them to be great little cars (more spacious and more comfortable and PRACTICAL than that cramped Lexus IS) that are also zippy (except for the B150 and models with Autotronic (CVT)).

There is no shame in buying a B-Class. It's popular in Europe because of its small size yet spacious cabin and practicality as well as great engine options. Maybe Lexus should do something similar in Europe instead of rebadging a Euro Avensis and calling it HS250h.

Incase you did'nt notice, Mercedes-Benz sales are up 33% here in Canada and had a record year in 2008. I guess Canadians have better taste! they buy the better cars and are not fooled by imitation Toyotas..

Lexus would be better served to focus on Hyundai (and Infinity and Acura). M-B customers, or BMW or Audi customers for that matter, are not the kind of customers who cross-shop Lexus (or Acura or Infinity). Two different types of customer bases.

I find it funny Asian car fans always want to bring up the Germans. They should spend their time worrying about their real competitors:

.....like the Superbowl commercial...Hyundai?! Hyundai!?

Er, compared to other comapnies, its not that bad. I don't think the 1 or 2 Maybach's bought should be counted.

huu76,

Nobody ever said BMWs are unique...just common cars that put a big smile on the owners faces, something no Asian product ever did.

"Just proves Lexus customers have higher standards and bigger bank accounts."

Huu76, you must be delusional. You do realize that Lexus is not the leader in sales even in America now, do you? You know the reason that happened is BECAUSE their customers who are exclusively former Toyota owners cannot afford to upgrade anymore.
Just as Lexus started believing they are playing in the big league in America, the economic downturn brought them back to reality. Cruel reality I might add.

Face it, Lexus is not a desirable product for anybody else other than the Toyota owners who want a different badge on their boringmobile. Nobody EVER bought a Lexus because they thought it drives better than a Mercedes or BMW. Look at the facts. Asians are known to be bad car engineers. They are great with consumer electronics but when it comes to cars they are so far from the German leaders is not even funny.

The main problem with Asian cars is that they are a sum of specs that never translate in a great experience for the driver. The European cars are quite different in that regard. You can say that they are built "around" the driver. It's never about specs alone, it's always about offering that satisfying driving experience.

People buy Asian cars based on specs vs dollar amount. People buy German cars because the driving experience puts a smile on their face. Do specs matter when the driving experience is abysmal? Of course not.
In the end what car enthusiasts want is cars that are enjoyable to drive. That's the reason they NEVER buy Asian cars.

stop crying like a little kid

Huu76,

what is that stuff you are you smoking? Lexus are the ones that lowered the prices for their cars in Canada and have unholy discounts for their cars in America, not the German three. You say Lexus sold more ES350 than IS models? Well that just proves my point that Lexus customers are the dumbest car buyers alive. Instead of buying the superior Lexus IS they prefer to stick with their rebadged Camry ES. Do you not see the irony?

The problem with the Japanese cars is not that they don't have a name. They do, but just not in the eyes of the car enthusiasts who can see beyond the hype and the useless specs(see even the GT-R). Nothing that ever came from Asia drives like a BMW or Mercedes...nothing. Is not like you have the choice of buying a BMW Japanese replica for less...you don't. If such thing would exist I'll be the first in line to buy it. What do the Japanese have to compete with BMW...an econobox like Infiniti. You call that c**p a BMW competitor? Let's be serious.

What's next..yes. Why are you keep blubbering about the lease rates for BMWs. How is that bad? The fact that BMW can afford to lease their cars for such low amount is due to the phenomenal resale value since everybody is aware of the impressive quality and long term reliability of BMW vehicles. In the present things change since at the moment the resale values dropped significantly for all cars. BMW modified their lease prices accordingly so you can stop bitching about how affordable they are right now.

The last three paragraphs in my previous post are all me, so I thank you for your compliment.

I was just in Wilmington, NC and saw 3 NEW MB GLK models with 30 minutes of each other. It looks like they may have a winner on this one. In a time when car sales are low,you do not expect to see brand new cars like these driving around in abundance like that.

Go MB!
The car looks great.