S&P 500
7,244.60
+0.25%
Dow Jones
49,531.10
+0.07%
Nasdaq 100
27,807.00
+0.44%
Russell 2000
2,813.46
+0.31%
FTSE 100
10,364.50
0.00%
Nikkei 225
59,922.50
+1.12%

Cars and Drivers

If Mercedes Can Sell SUVs, What’s Wrong With The Big Three?

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Stocks:  (GM)(DCX)(F)

Mercedes-Benz, the luxury division of DaimlerChrysler, had a unit sales increase of 6.5% to 1.15 million. The reason for the increase was a 86% increase in sale of its big off-road and luxury-van M, R, G, and GL brands. Sales of many of its sedans fell during the year.

That’s insane. In Detroit, sales of SUVs are one of the primary causes for falling US share of the Big Three. It’s tough to reconcile the Mercedes numbers with that.

There are a couple of potential reasons. First, the Mercedes vehicles are more expensive that US counterparts. Perhaps the wealthy do not care about gas prices. But, many rich people are cheap. The parking lots of Costcos are filled with luxury cars.

Another reason might be that the Mercedes SUVs are viewed as better built, but JD Powers results do not put Mercedes quality well ahead of its US counterparts.

Perhaps Ford, GM, and the Chryler unit of DaimlerChrysler can learn something from Mercedes. SUV sales are not down across the board, and there has to be a reason.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

39% of Americans Are Betting on Crypto and Prediction Markets Instead of Saving
David Beren |

39% of Americans Are Betting on Crypto and Prediction Markets Instead of Saving
A $300,000 Annuity Guarantees $1,900 a Month for Life, but Here Is What Retirees Are Giving Up
Drew Wood |

A $300,000 Annuity Guarantees $1,900 a Month for Life, but Here Is What Retirees Are Giving Up

Continue Reading

Douglas A. McIntyre |

The Greening Of Detroit, The Resurrection Of The Diesel

The diesel engine was invented in 1892. The engines consume about 40% less fuel per mile than standard gasoline engines,…
11 New Cars That Buyers Can’t Wait to Get Rid Of
Paul Ausick |

11 New Cars That Buyers Can’t Wait to Get Rid Of

While most Americans keep a new car for an average of 11 years, some buyers resell their new cars less…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

How BMW, Audi, And Mercedes Won The U.S. Car Wars

courtesy of The Car Spy, via Wikimedia CommonsWhen the November car sales figures come out, one certain result will be…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

What’s Important in the Financial World (4/4/2012) States in Trouble, BMW Sales

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia put out its prediction of the economic health of all 50 states and D.C.…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Mercedes Sales Top BMW in September

In the monthly race among luxury car sales, Mercedes bested BMW in September. Mercedes also holds a slim lead for…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Mercedes Sells 419,000 Vehicles in Second Quarter

courtesy of Mercedes-BenzIf there is any issue about whether the world’s rich are getting richer, it should be settled by…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

America’s Hottest Selling Cars

courtesy of Mercedes-BenzSubaru, Mercedes, Audi and Toyota dealers had trouble keeping their cars on the lot in April. Based on…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

As Foreign Cars Dominate Luxury Market, Cadillac Pushed Down List

courtesy of General MotorsDespite the launch of a number of new models, Cadillac’s share of luxury car sales in the…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Mercedes Holds Luxury Car Lead Over BMW

In the back and forth that is the luxury car sales lead in the United States, Mercedes was a narrow…

Top Gaining Stocks

Cboe Global Markets
CBOE • Vol: 1,568,143
New Pluto Global
PSKY • Vol: 12,285,993
Seagate Technology
STX • Vol: 7,378,346
Oracle
ORCL • Vol: 26,317,675
Datadog
DDOG • Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ • Vol: 4,367,433
Clorox
CLX • Vol: 13,260,523
Stryker
SYK • Vol: 4,519,455
Mohawk Industries
MHK • Vol: 1,859,865
Amgen
AMGN • Vol: 3,818,618