Mercedes sales down 57%!

[Marque]

Apparently, sales of new Mercedes cars in the UK during November are down 57% from the same month last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7764777.stm

Of course, most dealerships make their profit from parts and servicing, so most should weather the storm. But will Mercedes-Benz?

 

[jeremytaylor]

Most car sales are down. Saab, Renault, Subaru, (even with diesels now available) Land Rover, Alfa all posted worse figures for November. Maybe they are giving up 'buying market share', which only increases depreciation in the long term. It's the year to date which are more important:

Merc down 8%, market down 11%. Only Audi and Volvo seem to be doing significantly better. Audi down 0.3%, Volvo up 13% year to date.

 

[nick mercedes]

Apparently, sales of new Mercedes cars in the UK during November are down 57% from the same month last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7764777.stm

Of course, most dealerships make their profit from parts and servicing, so most should weather the storm. But will Mercedes-Benz?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7764066.stm

Meanwhile MBs start to pile up at the docks...

 

[gIzzE]

This recession is happening so fast that it is the comparison figures that mean the most, not the year to date.
This time last year it had started to slow down already, it started back in September, so to be 57% down is quite something!!

 

[miro]

My impression is that the recession is essentially a high tide which cuts above the consumers with no credit.

The lenders thought that money to buy houses would tie people down into a mortgage oriented lifestyle but what happened in reality was that people also bought the cars, boats and TV's.

The spending took cash out of the home market into a broad range of comsumer spending. The housing deals fell through and the lifestyles became frugal.

I was gob-smacked when I saw a woman on TV complain that she lives in an apartment she can afford after giving up a house she couldnt afford. I know where I lived the first five years of my life and I think most people would find that too modest for their inflated tastes.

Maybe if people went back to being treated like children by banks and forced into strict repayment plans then it would steady the economy far sooner by making money change hands in a productive way.

Letting people go bankrupt is just another form of stealing. If I stole a milliion pounds I would be hung out in public (or sent to Australia as punishment) and yet I know of no such instances where a reckless lifestyle has sent anyone to prison. The laws on money are really out of touch.

 

[verytalldave]

Now heres an interesting little guessing game for you.......................

How many new Lexus cars were registered in the UK in November in total?

Obviously you could easily cheat and look it up in the internet. But that would be defeating the object of the game.
So PLEASE dont do that (if you can resist) and then NOT post the official number. So as many as possible can have a punt.

I was surprised to say the least when I found out.

If nobody has posted the figure by later today, I will post it here.

Of course, I know the number, but if I didnt I suppose I would think logically and then come up with a number of around 500 or so.

Remember, this is for November 2008 only.

 

[Howard]

106

 

[Robbo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ca/7764066.stm

Meanwhile MBs start to pile up at the docks...

Wow, loads of high end Mercs just waiting to be sold off at a low price. Must be some bargains over there if you have the money.

 

[gIzzE]

Now heres an interesting little guessing game for you.......................

How many new Lexus cars were registered in the UK in November in total?

If they were genuine customer cars I would say 80, I would guess there are 40 dealerships around the UK and probably 2 new cars each.

If we are including cars registered by the dealers then maybe two or 3 more for each dealer bringing that to 160 or 240 cars in total.

 

[verytalldave]

Wow, loads of high end Mercs just waiting to be sold off at a low price. Must be some bargains over there if you have the money.

Thats the point. Not enough do. And with credit difficult at the moment it needs people with well lined pockets.

 

[verytalldave]

Anyway.................

To give the answer to my earlier question...............

Lexus sales are down nearly 73% on November 2007..........

They sold 20 new cars in November 2008 in the whole of the UK.

Thats right.............20.

Even Aston Martin managed to clock up 38 new car sales in the same period.



This might not be the best time to launch the Infinity brand....................

 

[Rory]

20 - gulp. Saw a report of a Lexus dealer (Southend) closing down the other day. Suggestions that Lookers are dropping them altogether.

Having said that, on another forum there's talk of redundancies at one of the MB owned Manchester dealerships, and the service manager position at my local dealership (MB Chester) no longer exists.

Some (including me, sometimes) say many of the dealerships deserve this, but things are only going to get worse if the networks thin out.

 

[bigyin1]

20!! Thats not good.

We do the odd bit of work for a local Ford dealership and they have said that folk just aren't buying the 1.8/2.0l models, only small petrol and the smaller diesels. If Ford can't get folk to buy the bread and butter petrol models, well what used to be bread and butter then what hope does the bigger engined luxury makers have??

 

[JasM]

Time for some positive news

BMW's sales have fallen 26.2%,with MINI's sales down 20.8%

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7766779.stm

 

[crockers]

Just had an offer to test drive a Lexus for 48 hours RX400h......thought why not.. so filled the online form in and am awaiting a call....

20 cars ...... that explains it.....

 

[Rory]

Just had an offer to test drive a Lexus for 48 hours RX400h......thought why not.. so filled the online form in and am awaiting a call....

20 cars ...... that explains it.....

You have to insure it yourself and you can only do 200 miles in it.

 

[grober]

Some more figures from Mercedes themselves. Worldwide sales down a whopping 25.2% this month but only down 4.1 % on 2007 total. Smart on the other hand down 1.2% this month but up 36.5% on total figures for 2007!http://www.emercedesbenz.com/Dec08/...cent_In_November_2008_To_84500_New_Units.html

 

[gIzzE]

Just had an offer to test drive a Lexus for 48 hours RX400h......thought why not.. so filled the online form in and am awaiting a call....

20 cars ...... that explains it.....

I've been waiting for weeks!!

 

[Lord Lucan MK]

past few weeks I have been offerred huge discounts on R class and CLS models including AMG spec too letter every week at the moment from my local dealer

 

[jeremytaylor]

20 - gulp. Saw a report of a Lexus dealer (Southend) closing down the other day. Suggestions that Lookers are dropping them altogether.

A mate works at Toyota HQ and he was saying that even back in the summer Lexus were having real problems holding onto dealers due to poor sales and high standards expected of them. Too much like hard work for no return to be worthwhile for the dealers. That was back in the summer - imagine how worse things must be for them now?

They really need a better range of diesels. I mean what percentage of Merc., BMW and Audi saloon/estate sales are diesels these days? And as for the Lexus Coupe?