Mercedes-Benz Sales Freefall 9.2% In July

Mercedes-Benz USA today reported July sales of 25,909 units, compared to 28,523 vehicles sold during the same month last year. On a year-to-date basis, Mercedes-Benz retails totaled 187,869 units, down 1.8% from the previous year. Adding 2,758 units for Vans and 182 units for smart, MBUSA achieved a grand total of 28,849 vehicles for the month.

“July proved to be a challenging month across the industry,” said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of MBUSA. “We are in a position for another strong year with new products launching in the second half.”

Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in July included the C-Class, GLC and GLE model lines. The C-Class took the lead at 4,899, followed by GLC sales of 4,002. The GLE rounded out the top three with 3,879 units sold.

Mercedes-AMG high-performance models sold 2,098 units in July, with a total 19,128 sold year-to-date (up 52.9%).

Separately, Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned (MBCPO) models recorded sales of 8,654 vehicles in July, a decrease of 17.7% when compared to the same month last year (10,517). On a year-to-date basis, MBCPO sold 68,847 vehicles, a decrease of 2.8% over 2016 (70,863).

carsnyc - 8/1/2017 3:29:32 PM

+1 Boost

New E not selling and I continue to blame it on the small engine.

mre30 - 8/1/2017 3:34:17 PM

+3 Boost

E and C are indistinguishable to the average person. C300 is faster than the E300 because the same 4-cyl has less weight to push around.

E is also very expensive for what it is.

MDarringer - 8/1/2017 7:42:19 PM

+1 Boost

Bingo. Why ANY vehicles in the E Class' class has a 4 cylinder is beyond me. If you can afford $60K, you can afford gas.

ilovecar2015 - 8/1/2017 4:07:03 PM

+4 Boost

Agreed 100% with mre30. While last generation E was a huge step up from C, this generation E is so vanilla and not much distinguish from C (unless you really want the long LCD)

GermanNut - 8/1/2017 4:32:02 PM

+4 Boost

The new E-Class caused sales for the month to drop 25.8%. This is likely due to the striking similarities in looks between the C-Class and E-Class. Another contributing factor is that both the C and E offer a standard 4-cylinder engine and the only way to get a 6-cylinder in the E-Class is to buy an AMG version.

ilovecar2015 - 8/1/2017 4:53:28 PM

+3 Boost

I guess this will solve the problem. MB to have E400 to slot between E300 and AMG43 for 2018.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/2018-mercedes-benz-updates-include-new-e400-sedan-nine-speed-for-c300/

mre30 - 8/1/2017 10:47:59 PM

+1 Boost

...Too little...too late.

Damage is done. E Class is so mediocre, that affluent buyers are heading over to the somewhat ugly (but certainly more pizzaz-y) 540i twin turbo, fireball, smooth as butter BMW inline-6, in droves.

BMW is looking to have won this battle by launching cheaper 530i 4 cyl and premium 540i fireball inline 6 at the same time.

cidflekken - 8/2/2017 4:04:19 AM

+3 Boost

Well, I'd have to agree. I never understood the reasoning to introduce the new E with a 4-cylinder with the step-up the almost 400-hp E43. Too large of a gap for a large-ish car starting at $53k. Now the E400 will come in starting at about $62k I would guess.

The next quandary for Mercedes is the E43 is how will it compete with the M550i? Both cars base about the same at $73k, but the M550i is much faster and will likely as well or better, if the other M Performance cars are an indication.

malba2367 - 8/2/2017 1:40:50 PM

+3 Boost

MB probably had to try to push 4 cyl E class sales as much as possible and keep the 8 cyl out of the car to meet CAFE standards. BMW probably has an easier time meeting these because their sales are skewed towards smaller models than Mercedes, also they have mini to bring up averages.

bw5011 - 8/2/2017 10:59:50 PM

+2 Boost

All i see is cla and c class vehicles.... I would say we see more of them than anything. I see a few s class copies a bunch of sedans and older e class. But actually they all look the same so maybe i get them mixed up. Same thing that plague most manufacturers today