Mercedes-Benz Barely Eeks Out A 0.9% Sales Gain In October

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported October sales of 19,076 vehicles, an increase of 4.9% for the month and up 20.1% on a year-to-date basis.

Impressive gains continued in both the Mercedes-Benz passenger car and light-truck categories.  The strongest performer for the month was the 9th generation E-Class with sales of 5,568, bringing the year-to-date total to 50,298 (up 53.3%).  The popular and sporty C-Class followed with sales of 3,771 and the versatile M-Class SUV rounded out the top three volume performers with sales of 2,826 for the month.

Sales at the high end continued strong with sales of the flagship S-Class up 60.4%.  Also showing strong gains for the month were the CLS coupe up 47.5% and the spacious R-Class crossover up 52%.  The company also sold 59 of the newly launched supercar - the SLS AMG - bringing its year-to-date sales to 415.

On a year-to-date basis, the company sold 184,431 new vehicles, an increase of 20.1 % over last year.

Separately, through the Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned (MBCPO) program, MBUSA sold 7,120 vehicles in October, up 31.05 % compared to October 2009 sales of 5,433 vehicles.  Year-to-date sales for the MBCPO program were 68,088 -- a 9.5 % increase over 2009 year-to-date sales (62,161 vehicles) during the same timeframe.