-Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported July sales of 20,034 Mercedes-Benz models, a decrease of 22.7% from July 2017. Mercedes-Benz Vans reported July sales of 2,921 units (up 5.9%) and smart reported 103 units, bringing MBUSA to a grand total of 23,058 vehicles for the month. On a year-to-date basis, sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles totaled 178,882, with an additional 19,831 units for Vans and 753 vehicles for smart, bringing the sales volume to 199,466, a decrease of 4.4% from last year.
“July sales were impacted by a number of factors, resulting in a temporary dealer inventory shortfall relating to our changeover to model year 2019,” said Dietmar Exler, president and CEO of MBUSA. “We also experienced a mainframe outage which affected our dealers’ ability to conduct business during the busiest week of the month. The IT recovery is nearing completion, and we are working closely with our customers and dealers to help alleviate any inconvenience resulting from the model year 2019 delays. While we expect to replenish our inventory levels in the fall, these developments will likely have a negative impact on sales in the coming months.”
Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in July included the GLE, GLC and C-Class model lines. The GLE took the lead at 4,447, followed closely by GLC sales of 4,446. The C-Class rounded out the top three with 3,841 units sold.
July sales of Mercedes-AMG high-performance totaled 2,008 units, with 17,328 vehicles sold year-to-date.
Separately, Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned (MBCPO) models recorded sales of 10,508 vehicles in July, an increase of 21.4% when compared to the same month last year (8,654). On a year-to-date basis, MBCPO sold 72,629 vehicles, an increase of 5.5% over 2017 (68,848).