Mercedes Car Group April unit sales fall 3 percent

Automotive News / May 7, 2007 - 9:00 am / FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Unit sales at DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes Car Group premium division fell 3.0 percent in April to 97,800 vehicles despite the launch of two key models for the Mercedes and Smart brands, the company said today.

The Mercedes-Benz brand sold 90,600 passenger vehicles in April, a dip of 0.7 percent, even though the new Mercedes-Benz C class hit showrooms at the end of March.

The model's success is key to the future of Mercedes since the C class remains the brand's top-selling car.

It said it sold a total of 28,200 vehicles in the C class segment in April, with sales of the C-class sedan up 15 percent.

Sales of Smart minicars fell 24.6 percent in April to 7,200 cars. Demand for the new Smart ForTwo, launched in late March, was strong, it said, with sales of the two-seat model up 14 percent to 6,900 units.

The ForTwo is the only car left in Smart's new product lineup after it pruned back its portfolio to save money.

April deliveries brought the division's sales in the first four months of the year to 384,600 units, down 2.8 percent from the year-ago period, as a drop in Smart sales by nearly half offset a 2.2 percent rise in Mercedes sales, which hit a record.