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Mercedes-Benz USA Posts April Sales

4 May 1999

Mercedes-Benz USA Posts April Sales of 16,180 New Vehicles Sales of New S-Class Surge 19 Percent for the Month

    MONTVALE, N.J., May 3 -- Mercedes-Benz USA, Inc. reported
sales of 16,180 new vehicles during the month of April 1999, just under the
16,318 vehicles sold in April 1998.  Year-to-date sales are slightly ahead of
last year's record-setting pace with a total of 56,716 vehicles sold during
the first four months of 1999, a .1 percent increase over the 56,683 vehicles
sold during the same period last year.
    The S-Class, MBUSA's flagship model line (led by the all-new MY 2000 sedan
which debuted in March of this year) continued to reflect strong demand with
1,988 vehicles sold, an increase of 19 percent over the 1,670 vehicles sold in
April of last year.  On a year-to-date basis, the S-Class line led last year
by 27.6 percent (7,014 vs. 5,497).
    Volume for the month of April was led by the award-winning E-Class model
line with sales of 4,753, an increase of 3.5 percent over the 4,592 vehicles
sold in April 1998.  Supply-constrained C-Class sales totaled 2,891, down
15.02 percent (vs. 3,402).  The legendary SL coupe/roadster recorded sales of
815 (vs. 924) for the month.  M-Class sales were 3,302 (vs. 3,995).  The SLK
roadster posted an increase of 4.7 percent, finishing the month with 1,132
units  (vs. 1,081).  The ever-popular CLK coupes and cabriolet posted a
98 percent gain with sales of 1,299 versus 654 last April.
    On a year-to-date basis, C-Class sales declined from 12,827 to 9,550.
E-Class sales increased 4.3 percent to 16,049 (vs. 15,387).  Sales of the
SL decreased to 2,662 (vs. 2,832).
    Year-to-date sales of the SLK increased 10.2 percent to 3,779 (vs. 3,428);
the CLK jumped 118.9 percent to 4,952 (vs. 2,262) and the M-Class sold 12,710
units (vs. 14,450).