A sigh of relief for MB while Smart sales literally disappear.
Wayne Gerdes -
CleanMPG - Nov. 3, 2009
Smart Fortwo - $11,990 to start and 36 mpgUS combined on the 08 EPA. Cute but too small for American tastes apparently.
Mercedes-Benz USA today reported October sales of 18,193 vehicles, its highest month of the year and a 21.3% improvement over October 2008.
"Clearly we're very pleased with this month's result and we believe that we will be able to parlay this into a strong fourth quarter and continued increases in our market share," said Ernst Lieb, President & CEO of MBUSA. Lieb attributed the strong month to a more stabile economic environment relative to last year and to the momentum of the company's new products -- the compact SUV GLK-Class and the new 9th generation E-Class -- as well as volume leaders like its C- and M-Class model lines.
The GLK-Class, introduced in January 2009, has outsold every vehicle in its class on a year-to-date basis. The all-new, 9th generation E-Class, launched in late June, recorded sales of 6,071 for October 2009, up 189.4% over October 2008. The other volume leaders for the month were the C-Class and M-Class with sales of 4,122, and 2,370 respectively.
On a year-to-date basis, the company sold 153,606 new vehicles, trailing the comparable period last year by 20.1%.
Smart on the other hand had much less to cheer about with just 661 vehicles sold in October 2009. Year-to-date sales now total 13,082 units. Since its introduction in the United States, there are nearly 40,000 Smart Fortwos traveling the roads throughout America. There are 79 Smart centers located in 36 states.
Linear Mode
