Working up to ordering a '26 GLS 580, dealer says should show up February.March time-frame with an order going in early December, which is fine with me. Nothing in inventory has what I want, and seem to have a fair bit that I don't. I'm curious for those who have ordered, what have you been able to negotiate as far as a discount off of MSRP? Is 10% an unreasonable expectation? Looking at an MSRP of ~$133k. What has been your experience with this process?

I ordered my 2025 GLS 580 in Sept 2024 and was delivered 30 October 2024. As for discount my local dealer was MSRP only. I finally ordered from an out of town dealer but with only $1000.00 off MSRP. Could be because I was early buyer. That was my experience in Alabama. Either way the SUV in fantastic, excellent ride and quiet. No problems after 1 year of use. Good-luck. Ron

Thanks! Just trying to get an idea of what folks experiences have been recently. Just sent my build to the dealer I met with yesterday, we'll see what he comes back with. I have 5 dealers within 20 miles, 3 within 10. Reasonable experience so far with 2 of them but just now getting serious about pricing.

Talked to a local dealer today about "Costco pricing". Pretty funny - $1300 off of MSRP. What a joke. He then added $1300 of "dealer fees" to the out-the-door price. I'll keep looking...

Placed an order today for '26 GLS580 - $132k MSRP, $8.7k discount + $500 Triple-A rebate = $9.2k off MSRP. ~7%. Seemed fair. Two other dealers near me refused to budge - their loss. ETA early March.

I purchase 2025 GLS580 in February with 7% off sticker price. In addition paid $1000 for shipment from out of state dealer (liked the color)
Good luck and enjoy the car
Cheers

You're not going to get 10% off an order using an allocation for a 580. You can get 10% off an in stock 450 for sure.

January 2025 Purchase of a MY25. 11.8% discount off of a $123K MSRP GLS580. Purchased for $108,500. Iowa. Have to time it right and see if your car is sitting within a few hundred miles...

Thats not a factory order, totally different situation

Makes sense for most people, or majority of deals, but from my experience, getting 12% discount is possible if you have a good connection or true relationship with the dealership. I don’t have that deep connection with my Mbenz dealer (or never tested it recently for a new factory order), but I can easily get a 12% discount anytime on any BMW I want, including the SUV like X7 and ICE cars on a factory order. My last 12% was on a custom built X6 M60 that was officially ordered and submitted, before I changed my mind on it and decided on getting a 7 series.

I never negotiated a serious deal on a brand new benz in the past 10 years, but if BMW can do it, a GM at Mbenz dealership should be able to offer the same. Wholesale numbers are known, and that’s usually what I ask for and receive. The dealer essentially make no profit on the car itself for his top customers, in exchange for maintaining a loyal customer and waiting for a profit on service visits, or getting closer to the threshold of some incentives for hitting sales targets. It’s not ideal, but it happens when dealers know you won’t bring in all your family and neighbors asking for the same deal.

BMWs are easier to negotiate on because of the robust broker network. You can tell a BMW dealer that you can just go get 13% off with a broker and have it delivered to your door and they really have no choice but to play ball. BMW also is much more accomodating of factory orders, as many many people do order their cars. Thats much more unusual with other brands. Really BMW and Porsche are the only brands that really embrace custom ordering.

Mercedes is much harder. I have had Mercedes dealers refuse very reasonable deals on even prior model year leftover cars. I got a great deal on both my S560 and S580 new from the same dealer but both were after MONTHS of negotiating both with them and with other dealers around the country.

Another big issue is turnover. I got my S560 in 2020 and my S580 in 2024 at the same dealer. NOBODY involved in my S560 deal remained at that dealer in 2024. General manager, sales manager, finance manager, salespeople, service manager and service consultant had all left in that time. The guy who sold me the S560 actually now sells BMWs along with the SM and the FM all at the same dealer.

True about brokers; I thought there are similar options/brokers for Mbenz.
Just an FYI.. most BMW brokers work through a select few dealers, mainly (if not even exclusively) on the east coast, even for customers calling from the west coast. If you try to have them submit your order through a local dealer, most of these brokers often work with a couple of dealerships out West. My local BMW GM explained that these dealerships allow brokers to offer 12-13% off MSRP through them in exchange for the dealer getting incentives from BMW corporate for high monthly sales volume. anyway it's good that my local dealer is willing to match these offers, although they won't do it as a standard practice. 6-7% seems to be the typical or average discount I see on BMW forums.

Good point regarding Mercedes GMs, cause again my BMW GM has been my point of contact for so many years. In comparison, the three Mercedes dealerships within a 3-hour radius of me all seem to have a new GM every year I stop by. I can't even attempt to build or personalize a relationship with them, even if I bought a car from them every year, because the GMs are gone so quickly. I learned that the salesman relationship doesn't matter that much.. it's the GM who approves those crazy deals or negotiations so I try to go through them directly when I can.

Brokers are out there for MB, but its way more hit or miss and they aren't as cut and dried successful. I was not able to find a broker that got me any results with MB I couldn't easily get myself, different story with BMW though.

Keep an eye on Next Level Auto Brokers if/when needed. They have a live spreadsheet (link below) with all (readily releasable) Mbenz and BMW cars some with up to 13% off-MSRP and 4000 loyalty discount. They can also submit orders with similar discounts for most BMWs even better than the numbers on their spreadsheet, but am not sure if that's true for all Mbenz models.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1911616781

Yep they were one I talked to!

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions! I'm sure I could do better from a % discount perspective on an in-stock vehicle, and I was willing to look anywhere in the US. Shipping costs are pretty insignificant when compared to the price of the vehicle. But I didn't find any GLS580s that had what I wanted, and didn't have what I didn't. I can't see the upcharge for the MANUFAKTUR paint for example, even though I like the dark blue, the $6500 is just fails the intrinsic value proposition for me. Although I am curious if they do a paint-to-sample on a GLS...

The order gives me exactly what I want, at a MSRP in the range of others out there in inventory. The ~7% the dealer offered seems fair. Total OTD price of $133k with tax, etc. As I tend to keep cars quite a while, I'd rather order one the way I want it, even if I'm giving up few %. Here's the config I ordered:

• Mercedes GLS580
• Twilight Blue metallic
• Bahia Brown/Black Leather
• Night Package
• Roof spoiler
• Chrome load sill guard
• Wheel locking bolts, black
• Natural Grain Brown Walnut wood
• 6-seat configuration
• Topstitched MB-Tex lower dash and upper door trim
• Exclusive Wood Trim Package
• All-season 1st- and 2nd-row floor mats, black rubber
• Pinnacle Trim
• Acoustic Comfort Package
• E-ACTIVE BODY CONTROL Package
• Dashcam
• Off-Road Package
• Underguard
• Trailer hitch (Class IV)
• 2nd-row side-impact air bags

It’s an expensive vehicle, you should have what you want and 7% off seems fair to me on an order.

Congrats!

Congrats man!!! That's an awesome spec!!

Twilight Blue metallic, I love that color!
Bahia Brown interior and exterior Night Package... that's the exact combo that my wife and I want to get if/when we renew the GLS again in 1-2 years.
Still not sure about exterior. My wife takes our GLS to car washes, and swirl marks on our Lunar Blue accumulate really quick. Thinking of Silver, Grey or White next time.

Question: What was your previous ride/SUV? I'd be curious about your feedback on the E-ABC.

It seems nearly every one out there is either black, white, or some variation of silver/grey. I wanted a saturated color - blue, red, dark green. If I could do a paint-to-sample on the order, I'd happily pay a premium to get it in Mazda's Solar Red - an absolutely stunning color IMHO.

This is our first MB, it's replacing a 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Touring which has been an absolutely excellent vehicle for over 100+k miles. We looked seriously at a GLS back in 2018, but with an elderly mother-in-law in a wheel-chair living with us, it just would not work to get her in/out, and didn't have enough room for the wheel-chair with kids in the 3rd row. The Chrysler Pacifica just can't be beat from a practical perspective. Wife is now done with vans and station-wagons (my initial push was a E450 wagon), so SUV here we come. I narrowed it down to Audi SQ7, GLS580, and, believe it or not, Dodge Durango Hellcat SRT. While the bang-for-the-buck car dude in me was rooting for the SRT's 700+ HP super-charged Hemi, she who must be listened to liked the Benz the best. The Dodge guy thought it was funny we were cross-shopping those vehicles :-)

I have a friend with a CL600 with the ABC suspension, and it's pretty impressive. The reporting on it on the GLS also seemed to strongly recommend it as being worth the coin, so we'll see. I only keep a vehicle as long as the available extended factory warranty is good for, so I don't worry too much about repair costs.

That’s funny, we also have a Pacifica that the GLS would be replacing if we go that route. Nice upgrade. This is our third Pacifica. They are great.

@S_W222 I think you will find the twilight blue hides swirls better, it’s not as dark. Our Pacifica is a similar color to yours and it does show swirls a lot from the Carwash.

Personally I think the GLS looks great in Selenite but my wife always has to have a “color”

If I'd spec one today, I'd go with Alpine Grey first no doubt, with black wheels (top) or the same 21" wheels I have now (bottom pic). I think 21" max is a must on this car for tires options and comfort. 2nd could be White exterior followed by Selenite or Silver, just cause I always wanted a White Mbenz. Only because we had a "color" now, otherwise would probably go with twilight blue or dark blue again with Night Package. There is no doubt the the interior must be Bahia Brown leather. Really liked this color when it came out and I think it only started 2024

Alpine Grey.... I had a Nardo Grey 8-series BMW and this was the easiest color to maintain. The swirl marks reflection are literally the same as paint color, and same for dust.

I don't care for the alpine gray personally.

I do miss my white color. Its funny because I really didn't want white and I accepted it begrudgingly, but I grew to really like it. I would choose moonlight white on the GLS for sure, but my wife wont accept white. Has to be "a color". I also think they look great in silver, but that would be a no go too so really the only option is twilight blue since they did away with emerald green and I don't want to pay $6,500 for paint!

Color anecdote:
When shopping for my 2021 AMG53, we spent several Sundays (Sunday closing law - no salesfolks) scouting lots for colors among other things.
One of the things we were looking for was how they looked when dirty, either right off the transporter or customer cars.
What surprised us was that one of the colors that looked best when dirty was Obsidian Black. Mojave Silver was another.

Now I'm surprised at how few swirl marks show up after five years. I've been using tunnel washes for five years (back surgery) it's a 7 foot car. Meaning the damage isn't apparent further than seven feet away.

I do the same thing on Sundays lol. In fact I stopped by yesterday specifically because of this thread.

Agree on the "7 foot" thing, on my Pacifica it too is a "7 foot" car. All the swirling is down below the door handles and you don't really see it unless you are down low cleaning it, etc. This is what it looks like all cleaned up from standing height