Benz sales are very good world wide. The E class has not performed to expectation. Subsequent to one of the largest facelifts in Benz history things are better.

Also the W212 gen has a C Class chassis Coupe to artificially inflate sales over previous gens and it still got surpassed by the 5 Series in worldwide sales for the first time ever. Indeed, hence the dramatic uncharacteristic facelift. Not to mention even with the largest discounts I've ever seen in the U.S. They're probably gonna put lots of effort into the next one.

Either way, I don't get why people care so much about sales. The less people who have your car, the better. I don't see how MB being as ubiquitous as Toyota would be a good thing for an enthusiast. Let shareholders worry about that stuff.

Yep! And a large proportion has been to Taxi sales where dubious styling is less of an issue.

Check your facts before you make inaccurate statements ! If you had read the press release from Daimler for November Worldwide Sales, you would have seen that the E Class sales include Sedans and Estates ONLY !!!

Year to date sales of the E Class in the USA are ahead of the 5 Series by over 14,000 units. 5 Series sales are down by 3.2% compared to 2013 while E Class sales are ahead of 2013 by only 0.3%. This suggests to me that the mid-size luxury market is rather flat in the US, perhaps a reflection of the stalled US economy ?

Oh, please !!!

It's time to return to the OP's original topic of C Class sales !

Oh yeah, another factor that kind of "artificially" inflates sales thus shows why it's been an internal upset. In Europe there were beat up W212 taxi's everywhere with packages I didn't even think existed (for example, pre-facelifts with no taillight LED's in some places, and maybe plastic window trim if I'm remembering correctly.

That's impossible. And maybe a new thing to cover up lagging "E" Coupe sales if indeed true? They don't report E Coupe sales anywhere, at least didn't before, so the only place they'd include them is in E sales overall. M-B would surely not not-include E Coupe sales at all. The numbers used when the 5 Series surpassed the E in worldwide sales did/do include the E Coupe/Vert sales.

O/T, but yes that segment is not as hot as before I guess. Apparently Crossovers are all the rage and probably eating into sales a bit more and more. But stalling economy? Seems like everything is improving pretty steadily, especially the cars and jobs market, etc.

DerekACS is correct about E class sales in the US. For 2014 so far E class 61281 vs 47187 for the BMW 5 series. For 2013 E class 69803 vs 56863 for the 5 series. About 14000 units difference in 2013 and once you factor in likely Dec. sales this year about the same.

Yes ~ in Europe & many parts of Asia they are the ubiquitous taxi. Benz builds them to a specific taxi spec. "Taxi Leder" MBTex, rubber matts, some trim removed, prewired for roof lights & meters etc.

Post facelift I think the car looks pleasant. Pre facelift it was fugly in the eyes of most. That does not mean it was a bad car before people get sensitive. It wasn't.

I wanted a W212 Coupe until I saw it. Then I ordered one of the last W209's built. I could now comfortably live with the facelifted Coupe but know there are better things to come. My W209 only has 21,000 miles in the clock.

[QUOTE=Glyn M Ruck;6255552]. I could now comfortably live with the facelifted Coupe but know there are better things to come.QUOTE]

Of what do you speak?

Well, if I stick to Coupes there will be a new C & E Coupe in the not too distant future.

Apparently after factoring out Coupe/Vert sales, the 5 sells more than the E Sedan in the U.S (along with the drastically more than all E's combined worldwide). I saw that posted by apparent "insiders" (the U.S sedan breakdown) but no way to know really.

Come on, guys! This is the C-CLASS forum! There is a perfectly good forum over at "E-Class (W212)" to discuss these issues. (The abbreviated quotes are listed above, to perhaps generate MBWorld alerts to these commenters. )

Blurring occurs on every forum on this board. It is natural & normal.

Personally, as someone in their early 40s, I find the E Class face lift has made the car more youthful, but still looks like an older person's car. I find that in wagon form, as I just got a 2014 E Wagon in sport trim, looks very cool!

As someone in their mid-30's, I like the FL'd E-class (and I like the fact that it looks more like it's aimed at a more mature audience). The original W212 was, IMHO, embarrassingly ugly.

The wagon always looked better than the sedan. =)

To the point of the thread, I didn't see many W205s on the street for the first mo or so after it's release. I'm now seeing several a day. I live in West Los Angeles. I imagine the car is selling very well.

I live in a fairly large Midwestern city and have only seen one W205 so far. However, I have been following online inventory at several dealers in the region and several of them have had significant inventory drops over the last week or so. I wonder if many of them sold a whole bunch at the end of November.

I have one of the first, so they are just arriving in my neck of the woods. The response when I drive, parked, carwash has been very positive. Parked beside a W204 the other day, and it looked ancient and frumpy. They are great cars, the W204 as I had two of them, but definitely long in the tooth.

Hey guys, I'm new to this board. I've seen quite a few of them already in south Brooklyn, NY. Just got one of my own in fact and loving it. If you leasing - it's definitely the best proposition right now in its class.

Looks great with that color and wheels!