Mercedes-Benz suffers shock sales slump

A forgotten feeling swept over Mercedes-Benz last month as its sales slid 7.9 percent globally.

In the grand scheme of a planet full of different tariffs and economies, that should not be a surprise, but it follows up a 2.6-percent year-on-year decline in June.

The amazing thing about that was that June signalled the end of 63 months of consecutive growth for the premium and luxury brand. The last time Benz suffered a sales contraction, Barack Obama had just started his second term as US President.

While selling 1,356,350 cars and SUVs over the first seven months of 2018 is a new record for Benz and a 2.3-percent rise over 2017, there are significant signs that the days of easy growth are over.

Benz found a silver lining in the result, pointing out the sales figure was the second best July Mercedes-Benz had ever had.

It was clearly restrained by the rollouts of the new A- and C-Classes, while the race to fit a huge product lineup through the new WLTP emissions-test bottleneck has reduced availability of some of its popular models.

The C-Class was down 29 percent on last July’s highs, though both the S-Class and the SUVs rose around the world.

Nevertheless, it retained its premium market leadership in countries like Australia, Germany, the USA, Japan, South Korea and France.

“Never before have so many customers taken delivery of their new Mercedes-Benz in the first seven months of a year,” Daimler’s board member for Mercedes-Benz Cars sales and Marketing, Britta Seeger, insisted.

“Since the beginning of 2018, we have increased our unit sales by 2.3 per cent to more than 1.35 million passenger cars sold.

“Since the market launch of the C-Class Saloon and Estate, more than 9.5 million of these models have already been sold.

“Since July, our new models of the C-Class family have been in the showrooms of the European dealerships, with whom we intend to continue the success story of our bestselling series.”

It fell off significantly in Australia, too, with its 2222 sales in July down 15.4 percent on the 2,628 cars it sold in July, 2017, while its 21,418 year-to-date sales were down 7.0 percent on the 21,945 it sold to the end of July last year. But that is a reflection of the total market in Australia, not just the Mercedes-Benz share.

BMW Australia fared even worse than Benz in Australia in July, with sales falling 21.8 percent to only 1683 cars and SUVs, though its year-to-date sales were more stable, falling only 2.7 percent.

Audi is also in the midst of a tough trot, with its A3 now so old it has survived five Audi Development Directors. And its A4 is being belted by the Benz C-Class.

Audi's 1352 sales in July were an astonishing 36 per cent down on July last year, and its 11,976 sales year-to-date represented a 6.6-per cent drop.

Benz also suffered a significant decline in Europe, with the brand dropping 3.2 percent year-on-year, and it was down 2.7 percent in its home market of Germany. It fell 19 percent in the NAFTA region (the US, Canada and Mexico), even though its sales grew at double-digit rates in Mexico.

Its biggest global growth area was the Asia Pacific region, with 4.6-per cent growth for the month and 11.4 per cent for the year, with China leaping 8.3 per cent for the month and 15.1 per cent for the year.