Mercedes-Benz Vans Sales Boom in North America in Q2
Mercedes’ Commercial Vans Continue to Sell Despite Global Chip Shortage.
The vans that Mercedes-Benz say are “born to run” are running right off of dealership lots.
The Tri-Star announced this week it sold around 100,000 vans worldwide in Q2 2022. That’s down 2% from last year, but taking into consideration the semiconductor shortage that continues to plague the auto industry, Mercedes is for sure chalking this up as a win.
Zoom in to North America and you will find no continent wanted Benz vans more last quarter; sales of the vans shot up an impressive 93%, topping out at just over 22,000 units. Here on U.S. soil, Mercedes says it set a record for sales in one quarter with nearly 20,000 Sprinter and Metris vans handed over to customers, a figure that is almost double from Q2 last year.
A closer look at the numbers reveals some interesting sales figures of its purely electric vans, a vehicle category Mercedes surely wants to make a splash in. “In the second quarter, despite persistently difficult conditions, we delivered around 100,000 Mercedes-Benz Vans,” said Klaud Rehkugler, Head of Sales for Mercedes-Benz Vans. “Sales of our eVans rose significantly by 61% to 3,900 units, of which more than three quarters are commercial models.”
Rounding out other parts of the world, MB Vans sales sunk 12% in Europe with just under 60,000 units sold. Asia saw a a steeper decline, down 26% (9,300 units). As for the rest of the world, sales finished down 15% at 8,700 units.
The Sprinter and Metris vans are popular, and that’s likely because of their affordability and configurability. The Sprinter is known the world over as a do-it-all workhorse; the van can be outfitted into pretty much anything, from a camper to a television satellite van to an economical passenger van, and you have your choice of gas or diesel. A cab chassis retails for $42,700, the passenger van at $45,300 and the crew van for $43,400. Its smaller stablemate, the Metris, just looks the part: it embraces its black plastic cladding on the sides, steel wheels and a no-frills experience, all starting at under $40,000. Despite its humble bones, you can upgrade from five basic paint options to five premium options. Be forewarned, those will cost a little north of $1,000. That will be a business expense for you to decide on.
It’s true that no automaker loves to see a red number in the percent column on their Excel spreadsheet. Throughout the U.S. and the world are dealer operations managers and general sales managers who have sweat more than usual. Semiconductor chips are in extremely short supply. Some dealerships, at least here on American soil, have only a handful of new cars sitting on their lots at any given time. The bottom line is lot of things about the business have been out of their control. Make no mistake that Stuttgart is celebrating this quarter, even if the big number is in red.
Photos: Mercedes-Benz
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