Mercedes-Benz April 2012 Sales up 30.5%

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C and E-Class made up nearly half the total volume.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - May 1, 2012

2012 Mercedes-Benz C300 – Starting at $34,800 while providing 21/31 mpgUS city/highway. If only it arrived with a European I4 diesel of any type

Mercedes Benz launched an all-new redesign of their C-Class last year with a major makeover involving 2,000 new parts, including new bumpers, headlights, front grille, an aluminum hood, LED taillights and a redesigned interior.

Interior design work focused on the dash with an integrated display and the glove box, as well as introducing a new grain for the interior panels. The dash accommodates a new standard 5.8-inch display, color gauges and a new-generation telematics system.

Ok, enough about that already, let’s get to the April sales numbers.

Mercedes-Benz April Sales Results

Mercedes-Benz earlier today reported April sales of 22,336 for its Mercedes-Benz models, a 23.8 percent sales improvement over April 2011, delivering a year-to-date total of 83,849 new vehicles to customers, up 17.5%.

Combined sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles, smart and Sprinter for the month totaled 25,066, up 30.8% making this the company's highest April on record.

Sales for the month of April were led by the C- (6,424), E- (5,328). The C-Class took the lead with the 9th generation E-Class following right behind.

MBUSA's top-selling SUV, the M-Class, rounded out the top three with sales of 3,057, up 53.6% compared to April 2011.

Smart

smart continued six consecutive monthly increases with April sales of 764 vehicles, a 63% jump for the month (compared to the 467 vehicles sold in April 2011) and brings the year-to-date volume to 3,028, up 74.6%.

Sprinter

On the van side, sales of Sprinter Vans also saw strong momentum in April with sales of 1,966 - up 76.3% over last year and up 35.4% on a year-to-date basis.

Mercedes-Benz April 2012 Highlights and Overall Sales

Model	Apr-12	Apr-11	Apr-DSR % change	Apr-12 YTD	Apr-11 YTD	YTD-DSR % change
C	6,424	5,232	+38.1%	24,531	20,425	+21.3%
E	5,328	5,342	+12.2%	19,201	20,411	-5.0%
Mercedes-Benz Totals	25,066	19,157	+47.2%	91,972	75,152	+23.6%

The daily selling rate (DSR) is calculated with 24 selling days in April of 2012 and 27 selling days during April of 2011.
Year-to-date, the DSR is calculated with 101 days for 2012 and 102 days for 2011. All percentages reflect DSR.

Top 10 – April 2012 US Automobile Sales Leaders

Sales Rank	Make	Model	Apr-12	Apr-11	Apr-DSR % change	Apr-12 YTD	Apr-11 YTD	YTD-DSR % change
1	Ford	F-Series	47,453	45,435	+17.5%	191,280	172,062	+12.3%
2	Toyota	Camry	36,820	30,443	+36.1%	142,225	107,264	+33.9%
3	Honda	Accord	35,385	28,180	+41.3%	96,517	94,375	+3.3%
4	Chevrolet	Silverado	30,749	29,342	+17.9%	126,387	121,797	+4.8%
5	Toyota	Corolla	24,804	24,215	+15.2%	93,232	100,890	-6.7%
6	Honda	Civic	24,423	26,777	+2.6%	101,592	91,745	+11.8%
7	Honda	CR-V	23,627	21,683	+22.6%	98,214	79,116	+25.4%
8	Chevrolet	Malibu	21,906	24,701	-0.2%	80,456	73,446	+10.6%
9	Ford	Fusion	21,610	21,189	+14.7%	85,559	86,212	+0.2%
10	Hyundai	Sonata	20,521	21,738	+6.2%	75,716	73,616	+3.9%

The daily selling rate (DSR) is calculated with 24 selling days in April of 2012 and 27 selling days during April of 2011.
Year-to-date, the DSR is calculated with 101 days for 2012 and 102 days for 2011. All percentages reflect DSR.
Prius sales combined reached 25,168 but within the sales breakout, none were in the top 10.

Top 10 Sales Leaders - Items of note: Camry and a fast charging Accord are neck and neck. Corolla and Civic both jumped 3 places. CR-V and Fusion fell 3 places. Malibu with tons of cash on the hood climbs back into the top 10 and Sonata edges out RAM to take the final spot.

B-Segment Sales Rank

1. Nissan Versa - 8,335
2. Chevrolet Sonic - 6,387
3. Hyundai Accent - 6,160
4. Ford Fiesta - 5,135
5. Toyota Yaris - 4,274
6. Kia Rio - 4,006
7. Honda Fit - 3,202
8. Mazda 2 - 1,048

C-Segment Sales Rank

1. Toyota Corolla - 24,804
2. Honda Civic - 24,423
3. Ford Focus - 19,425
4. Chevrolet Cruze - 18,205
5. Hyundai Elantra - 16,836
6. VW Jetta - 15,658
7. Mazda3 - 8,508
8. Nissan Sentra - 7,410

D-Segment Sales Rank

1. Toyota Camry - 36,820
2. Honda Accord - 35,385
3. Chevrolet Malibu - 21,906
4. Ford Fusion - 21,610
5. Hyundai Sonata - 20,521
6. Nissan Altima - 16,239
7. Kia Optima - 11,021
8. Chrysler 200 - 13,343
9. VW Passat - 10,096

April segment ranking items of note: Versa still leads the B-Segment with Sonic and Accent closing. Yaris passed the Fit and Rio while Rio outsold the Fit.

In the C-Segment, the ancient Corolla took hold of the lead with the much maligned Civic grabbing second place. Focus fell from first to third yet still outsold the Cruze.

The Camry leads everyone in the car segment and we mean all segments with the Accord jumping way up to second place with Malibu, Fusion and Sonata battling for third, fourth and fifth.

Automobile Manufacturer's US Sales Rank - April 2012 vs. April 2011 Comparison and Total Sales

1. GM April Sales down 8.2% with 213,387 vehicles sold.
2. Ford April Sales down 5.0% with 180,350 vehicles sold.
3. Toyota April Sales up11.6% with 178,044 vehicles sold.
4. Chrysler April Sales up 20.4% with 141,165 vehicles sold.
5. Honda April Sales down 2.2% with 122,012 vehicles sold.
6. Nissan April Sales down 0.3% with 71,329 vehicles sold.
7. Hyundai April Sales up 0.8% with 62,264 vehicles sold.
8. Kia April Sales up 1.0% with 47,550 vehicles sold.
9. VW April Sales up 31.5% with 37,525 vehicles sold.
10. BMW April Sales up 6.1% with 26,793 vehicles sold.
11. Subaru April Sales up 6.3% with 26,310 vehicles sold.
12. Mercedes-Benz April Sales up with 22,336 vehicles sold.
13. Mazda April Sales up 4.2% with 21,506 vehicles sold.
14. Audi April Sales up 15.0% with 11,521 vehicles sold.

March manufacturer sales rank items of note: Toyota just misses topping Ford, Nissan falls well behind Honda and Hyundai/Kia combined, Mercedes-Benz tops Mazda and BMW outsells Subaru.

SAAR is running at approximately 14.5 Million units.