Ted Baldwin

.......apparently only the GL, G and CL are experiencing increased sales compared to last year. Anyone that pays any attenton to my rants will know that I have always thought that Mercedes builds great cars but appears not to understand its customers very well hence the drop in sales. Not even the new S-class had any sales gains compared to last year. This is important because last year was the last model year for the previous S-class and this years' sales of the new W221 S-class should have been much higher.

.........I know we all like Mercedes Benz vehicles. My view is that rather than slavishly going along, we should point out what Mb is doing wrong. I know for sure that inputs from us are heard and acted upon. Mb was about to phase out the G class last year and changed its decision due to customer input. Lucky for Mercedes because the sales figures for the G-cklass rose 97 percent compared to last year. This is for a chasis that is 25 years old. I believe whole heartedly that like with the G, when MB fundamentaly understands its customers, it will make money.

.........below are the figures. and for those that constantly blanme Chrysler, these numbers do not include Chrysler sales.
http://emercedesbenz.com/May07/02_Me...New_Units.html

Ted

stevebez

Hmmm guess the Chrysler divorce might have something to do with this change of tactics...

jimand7

well the s class april figures from 06-07 are down because the new S class was being sold starting in about feb 2006.
that does make sense that they are off now.
I think that the problem with Cl's and S's is that they are too damn complicated. I have a 07 2007 cl600 and barely like it. unless i am just driving it. it is not "common sense" for me to use all the gadgets. and i am 31

stevebez

I agree .... its like buying MS Office only ever to use Word and Excel at probably 25% of their capacity / capability and then the system crashes 'coz the other 75% you DON'T use is unstable ... Hmmmm...

Cars seem to be going the same way ... as are mobile phones ...

Also who wants brake by wire (aka SBC)? What does it do any better than a mechanical setup other than keep the discs dry in the rain ... do me a friggin favour!!! And lets not even get into the failures - when has a mechanical brake system ever failed on a new benz?

Ted Baldwin

.......what this means to me is that anyone paying above MSRP is getting hosed. All the talk about wait times and exclusivity and dealer blowing smoke and tellling someone that they may not have a particular car available in the future due to huge demand are all overstated. The table does not show AMG sales figures separately, but I doubt that the E63 is outselling the figures of the W211 E55 since the E63 are already being sold at a discount. The ML63 does not have any figures with which to compare since the Ml55 was not sold last year. The CLK63 coupe is not here in order to compare to the CLK55 it replaces. I am just not sure that they know what they are doing.

Ted

CA_E55

posted by JLP on a other thread:

quote:
I know I am going get flamed for saying this but after owning many different Mercedes and Audi's in the last few years, I have to say that the Audis have always been better built!

From the resistance in the switchgear, to the types of metal and plastic used in the interior, underneath the car, the nuts, bolts, grommets,leather, etc.......

Open the trunk on an Audi, then open the hood and look at the engine bay,check the finished hood latches on the Audi, then look at the raw metal ones on your MB!
Its one small example but it continues throughout the cars.
Audi's attention to detail far exceeds MB and BMW IMHO!

I will be in line for this new RS6, to anyone the doesn't like Audi's thats fine, but remember they are better built using better raw materials than our beloved MB's.

One thing with the Audis though is they are typically a PITA to work on, the whole front clip has to come off alot.
unquote

I would not own a E55 would Audi have had the RS6 available in '05 - all my other cars are from VAG because I firmly belive the build quality is superior to MB. Maybe a lot more customers feel similar....
__________________

Vadim @ FD

Here we go with another b**tch thread about Mercedes.

Ted, this is getting old.

Ted Baldwin

...........I was going to ask you to list a thread I actually sarted in the last 3 months complaining about Mercedes, but then I realized the answer will be none. You may wish to prove me wrong or appologise. I'll accept the appology.

.........I do contribute to topics already started by others in which case I am not the only one that shares the views being expressed. Even I was, you may wish to not pay too much attention to me. If my posts bother you, you can put me on your ignore list or just not read what I write. Deal?

Ted

Ted Baldwin

.........The sales figures are from April 2007, so the fact that the S-class sales began in February should not matter. If anything you'll expect the early sales figures to be high as all the people that pre-ordered from last year receive their cars.

Ted

2MANYCARS

Sales figures went down?? How could that be? I see more Mercedes on the streets in NYC than last year.

RJC

Thanks for posting the info Ted, I found it interesting.

SleepersRock

Perhaps there are other greater economic issues?

I can't speak for the GL, but the G and the CL are pretty high end cars that are usually purchased by the wealthy. I read somewhere that the average income of a new CL buyer is ~$500K/year.

Getting back to the point...people have been had much more spare cash due to being able to use their houses as ATMs. In the Bay Area, every other car seems to be a luxury car and I am pretty certain that most of the people driving them could so only because they financed it for 30 years. As a mortage banker, I saw/see this all the time. People would buy expensive cars and then refi to pay them (and other debts) off with the built up equity after a year or two when their home appreciated by some ridiculous amount, or they would cash out their equity gains and then buy the car.

I believe there is some correlation that the downturn in Mercedes sales seemed to exactly coincide with the beginning of the downturn in this housing market.

Does anybody know how the other brands (Lexus, BMW, etc) have fared in sales in the past year? This might justify my theory or prove it wrong. Either way I still want an E55!

P.S. I apologize if this is