Invoice is a meaningless number today. It’s not even close to the dealers cost. Years ago invoice was about 11-15% of MSRP depending on the model. Luxury cars had the highest markup. Dealers still had a meager profit even at invoice with holdbacks, sales incentives and incentives in the form of parts credit, year end Kick back, etc. Today invoice is closer to 6% but dealer cost hasn’t changed much from at least double that number. It’s hard to make generalizations since there are variations among brands. Luxury dealers are expected to provide a more luxurious facility and loaners. There is also lower volumn and less profit from F&I in a Luxury brand. Large car markets with more competition may get better pricing through sales incentives, etc. etc Smaller Dealer May price the new less if they have a good profit on the trade but most larger dealers have separate profit centers making that less of an issue.

The Dealer is entitled to a profit or they won’t be in business very long so I’m mot advocating for low pricing just stating a fact. Invoice has little correlation to actual dealer cost.

Mercedes has no control over what reviewers have to say about the product. They may selectively choose those that are likely to be favorable but that’s about it. Since most reviewers want future access and may get advertising $ there’s not true objectivity anyway!