U.S. Auto Sales Post Best Month Ever, MB Crushes Expectations

By Adam Pockross - June 2, 2015

mercedes-dealers

After dark skies in April, U.S. auto sales definitely blossomed in May. And depending on how you look at it, no car company has more reason to celebrate than Mercedes-Benz.

As with all data, it depends on how you read it, but according to numbers published by Business Insider, when measuring actual sales versus expected sales, Mercedes fared better than most. Mercedes beat economist’s projections by a whopping 12.2% by moving a total of 32,352 units. All those units accounted for a 12% increase over the same month last year.

Economists actually predicted that May U.S. auto sales would decline. But according to a report by Good Car Bad Car, automakers on the whole had their highest volume month ever.

Funny thing is, these economists actually get paid to make these projections. Whatever, we’ll take it.

Alas, Mercedes wasn’t the leading luxury brand in May, as BMW had 1420 more sales than the three-pointed star. But with 148,018 units moved in 2015, a 10.1% year-over-year change, MB still leads the luxury segment in year-to-date sales by just 479 cars.

Mercedes only accounts for 2% of the U.S. market share, but sales were better than expected across the board, so much so that economists predict a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 17.2 million vehicles. And economists from Bank of America Merrill Lynch think it’s going to stay that way.

“With winter doldrums well in the rearview mirror, and with consumers enjoying several months of relatively low gasoline prices, we see an improvement in vehicle demand. 17.2mn is slightly above the highs of this year (registered in March), and if gasoline prices remain subdued and consumer confidence continues to improve, we see further upside to vehicle sales ahead.”

Of course, economists also predicted a lousy May in the first place, so think about that before you go adjusting your portfolio.