Mercedes Barely Keeps Head Above Water With A 0.2% Increase In January Sales

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported record January sales of 24,664, topping last January's record volume of 24,619 units sold. Adding 1,899 units for Vans and 399 units for smart, MBUSA achieved its highest January to date with a grand total of 26,962 vehicles, up 1.3% from a year ago.

"On the heels of our highest volume sales year in MBUSA's history, January is continuing the momentum into 2016," said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of MBUSA. "Our new product offerings, including the new E-Class will continue to bring our customers the best in experience and innovation."

Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in January included the C-Class, GLE and CLA model lines. The C-Class took the lead at 5,079, followed by the new GLE sales of 3,515. The CLA rounded out the top three with an increase of 27.2% to 3,168 units sold.

Mercedes-Benz AMG high-performance models sold 1,904 units in January, up 141% from last year (790), while the brand's BlueTEC diesel lineup finished the month at 334.

Separately, Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned (MBCPO) models recorded their best January ever with sales of 9,934, up 5.1% from the 9,456 units sold the same month last year.

Car4life1 - 2/2/2016 2:44:30 PM

+2 Boost

Hmmm CLA saw a nice bump while S Class remained stable, SUVS look strong, E Class and CLS buyers holding out for new generation

cidflekken - 2/2/2016 3:07:14 PM

+2 Boost

The CLS was just updated/facelifted for MY 2015. Isn't it too early for buyers to be holding out for a new generation?

Numbers overall look strong for the brand. Once the C-coupe comes out, who knows where these numbers will take off to.

Blitzer - 2/2/2016 5:58:50 PM

+1 Boost

"S Class remained stable." What? Sales plummeted 18.5%, as the new 7 Series continues to kick its butt and steal market share. By summer, 7 Series sales will surpass S Class.

cidflekken - 2/2/2016 7:13:16 PM

+3 Boost

So, let's do some comparisons, shall we.
In the S-Class's first full month of sales with its current model (October 2013), Mercedes sold over 1900 units (and sales have remained fairly consistently close to the 2k mark each month since).
In the 7 Series' first full month of sales with its current model (November 2015), BMW sold just over 1000 units.

Fast forward to January's sales numbers, 2.5 years after the current S-Class went on sale, and 3 full months after the current 7 went on sale, the S-Class still bests the 7 Series sales by 25%. This, despite the S-class not having a refresh. This, despite the S-Class starting $15k more than the 7 Series. This, despite Mercedes not (yet) even offering a lower-priced S-Class, aka S400 because, frankly, it doesn't need to with its healthy sales and it's focusing on going upmarket.