Your pals in the 1%: Mercedes October sales rise 28.2%

[villager]

Mercedes October sales rise 28.2%


CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Mercedes-Benz USA DE:DAI -6.42% said October sales grew 28% to 24,449 vehicles, representing record volume for that month. The performance was driven by the C-Class model, which saw an 88% increase in sales from October 2010. Sales of the CLS-Class more than doubled, while sales of the SLK Roadster rose 58.2%. So far this year, Mercedes-Benz USA has sold 206,632 vehicles, a 12% increase from the first 10 months of 2010.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mercedes-october-sales-rise-282-2011-11-01?link=MW_home_latest_news

[redqueen]

1. Did sales of luxury goods/brands ever suffer during the recession that ended in 2009?

Somehow I doubt it.

[LynneSin]

2. I have family members who drive Mercedes and they are hardly the 1%

They just like German cars.

Let's not be too hasty to lump everything into the 1%

[Fumesucker]

4. Ah, a coincidence theorist..

You're right, not everyone driving a Mercedes is in the 1%, probably most aren't.

But that doesn't mean that Mercedes isn't a favored choice of the 1%.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. It does specify the increase was from 88% growth in C class sales

which is their cheapest car in the USA: http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/family/class-C (The A class not being available, it seems), from $34,800. 'The 10%', perhaps, but not the 1%, I think.

[Fumesucker]

9. The real upper crust don't drive the flashiest cars for the most part.

Old money doesn't need to flaunt it and it's a security risk anyway. It's the nouveau riche that drive the flashy cars.

[LynneSin]

12. Do you even think the 1% drive their own cars?

It's a stretch to say that 1% and Mercedes owners are one in the same.

[Fumesucker]

14. The 1% mostly drive their own cars..

The 0.1% not so much.

The 0.01% hardly at all.

[Fumesucker]

3. A rising tide lifts all yachts..

Ask any billionaire..

[Taverner]

5. The 1% does not drive Mercedeses...

They Drive Bentleys, Rolls Royces and, if you can believe it, Buicks

[Fumesucker]

10. Meh, the real movers and shakers don't drive..

Ever seen My Fellow Americans? The scene where Lemmon and Garner as two ex presidents try to rent a car and can't drive it is side splitting..

[Xithras]

11. Nope. Mercedes are crap.

Mercedes are what the 99% drive when they want the other 99%ers to think they're doing well. Real 1%ers drive Aston's, Maserati's, and Bentley's, or other luxury cars that don't come from mass market dealerships. Mercedes Benz markets itself as a "high end" car for the middle and upper-middle class.

Besides, the quality of Mercedes has taken a serious dive over the past decade. They get routinely slammed nowadays for shoddy build quality, poor reliability, and uninspired design. Mercedes has been progressively cutting corners to get its price point lower to further broaden sales. They're cashing in on the brands cachet with the mass market.

Unless you're talking about one of their limited run supercars, real One Percenters aren't going to waste their time on a lowly Mercedes.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. Hasn't trickled down yet.

Tinkled on maybe.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. I would love to have a Smart car

the germans know how to build cars.

I bought a BMW 1600 before it was cool in the 70s
greatest car I ever had but it soon was out priced by its value.

[LynneSin]

13. I so want a Smart Car or a even a Mini Cooper

I live in the city, rarely is there anyone else in the car but me. It would make it so much easier to find parking.

[mainer]

15. Oddly, the 1 percenters I know all drive Priuses

The Mercedes owners all seem to be realtors or staid retirees.

[JackRiddler]

16. Purchasers of the Mercedes compact line are hardly "one percenters"

This is not the 1 percent on a spree but the Top 20 percent (and others who still have access to credit) deluding themselves, as usual, that (quasi) fancy durable goods confer the grace of the capitalist gods, even though the highway's backed up for 22 miles as usual.

Right now the 1 percent are probably looking at land around aquifers and streams, fortified gated communities, bubble domes, private armies, generators, immortality drugs, escape helicopters, that sort of thing. And driving Priuses, on days when Jeeves has the Bentley in the shop.