Mercedes tops Lexus in US luxury sales race

Saturday, 9 April 2011 00:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

If the current trend goes unchecked, Mercedes-Benz is poised to overtake Lexus as the luxury sales leader in the US. But the bad news for Lexus doesn’t end there, as it might not even end up in the second-place spot.

It’s still early to start making predictions, but with the first quarter numbers in, Mercedes has tallied 53,346 units sold, compared to 47,356 units for Lexus. And between the two rivals is BMW with 52,617 models sold – putting the German rival just 729 vehicles short of Mercedes.

BMW is currently on the biggest tear of the group, with sales rising 12 per cent in March, while Mercedes saw a 9.4 per cent increase, compared to Lexus with a 2.3 per cent rise.

Stale models are doing their part to hamper overall Lexus sales, while the more significant short term problem remains the supply issues and factory closures in Japan, where Toyota’s luxury division builds all of its Lexus models – except the RX.

Lexus established itself as the volume leading luxury brand in the US in 2000 and has held on to the title ever since.

Mercedes-Benz recalls M-Class vehicles

DETROIT (Reuters): Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz is undertaking a global recall of some of its older-model M-Class sport utility vehicles for issues related to cruise control that may lead to a crash, Daimler and U.S. federal safety regulators said.

A wide majority of the vehicles being recalled are model year 2000-2002 M-Class SUVs, but there are a small number of 2000-2004 AMG performance vehicles also involved.

Some 136,751 vehicles will be recalled in the United States and about 50,000 in Germany, said Mercedes-Benz representatives in those two countries.

Daimler representatives at its world headquarters in Germany did not provide a global recall figure.

No crashes or injuries have resulted from the issue, said Mercedes-Benz USA spokesman Rob Moran.

Tapping the brakes to disengage cruise control may fail, increasing the chances of a crash, a filing with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

There are other ways, including working a “cruise control stalk” on the steering wheel or applying firm consistent pressure on the brakes, that will still disengage the system in the event that tapping the brakes fails, Mercedes-Benz USA said. Cruise control also automatically disengages at speeds of 25 miles per hour or less, Moran said.

“Since the situation is triggered by a malfunction of the brake lamp switch, Mercedes-Benz USA will replace the brake lamp switch on these models beginning in September at no cost to customers,” Moran said.

He said it will take a half year before the repairs begin to “ensure an adequate replacement parts supply.”

US consumers will be informed of the recall in the next few weeks.

“We will also remind them to disengage the cruise control by using the stalk or by applying firm pressure on the brake pedal, and to avoid pumping the brakes,” Moran said.

The recall was prompted by several complaints from consumers, NHTSA and the automaker said.

Efforts to reach Mercedes-Benz representatives in Canada were not successful.