Mercedes Nears Luxury Title With Its Imported Top-Seller at Risk
(Bloomberg) -- Daimler AG's Mercedes is closing in on a third consecutive year as the U.S. luxury-sales leader. Even so, it's no time to gloat: Deliveries of its top-selling model for November, the imported GLC SUV, could be at risk if trade talks with the Trump administration sour.
Top executives from Mercedes, BMW AG and Volkswagen AG are headed to the White House on Tuesday to discuss potential tariffs on U.S. imports from Germany with President Donald Trump's trade team.
Key Insights
- Mercedes-brand sales rose 0.6 percent to 31,022 in November compared with a year ago, almost doubling its lead over BMW year-to-date to 7,286. The GLC sport utility was the star for the month, jumping 16 percent to 6,199.
- BMW sold 5,191 of its refreshed X5, which went on sale last month. Total sales rose 1 percent, carried by deliveries of the top-selling X3 crossover, which surged 77 percent.
- BMW -- which announced Monday it's facing cost headwinds of over $1 billion next year in part because of Trump's trade war with China -- has been leaning on SUVs made at its Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant to grow in a slowing U.S. luxury market and court favor with the Trump administration.
- Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus luxury line was down 2.5 percent in November, the ninth straight month of declines. Lexus light trucks, the NX and RX, were up, but that couldn't stanch the bloodletting of a 9.3 percent drop in passenger cars.
Get More
- BMW's stock jumped 5 percent in Germany Monday, while Daimler shares rose 4 percent after Trump's tweet claiming that China had agreed to “reduce and remove” tariffs on American-made vehicles. Both BMW and Mercedes export cars from their U.S. plants.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gabrielle Coppola in New York at gcoppola@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Kevin Miller, Melinda Grenier
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
-
High US Salaries, No Green Card Certainty: The Financial Calculation Facing Indian H-1B Families
The suspension of PERM processing at eight technology employers does not cancel existing H-1B visas. What it does is force a question many Indian families have been avoiding: is the US salary worth tying your career and family plans to one employer?
-
Swiggy vs Eternal: Food Delivery's Two Rivals Are No Longer In The Same Race
Eternal is building a private AI assistant, dark.ai. Swiggy is still working out how to make Instamart pay, with an operating loss of Rs 895 crore in the July-September quarter while Blinkit stayed profitable.
-
Where You Live Shapes How You Get To Work | The Reason Why
Two-wheelers are the most popular way to get to work in India, accounting for nearly 43% of workplace commutes.
-
Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
-
Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
-
India Exports Capital. Why Not Export Trusteeship?
The big question, then, is whether India can build an institution that global borrowers, investors, banks, and lawyers can trust, even without an Indian connection.
-
France's Economy & Politics Are In Crisis | The Reason Why
Let's look at how the French economy and politics evolved under Nicolas Sarkozy, Franois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.
-
You May Inherit The Business. You Must Earn Its Credibility.
Succession tests the founder's ability to share authority as much as it tests the next generation's readiness to assume it.
-
Signing Deals Is One Thing; Making Them Work Is Another | The Week In Whys
Sometimes, things don't turn out as planned. Indian companies have lost some bids to rivals, some projects won't produce until 2030.
-
FOMC Wall, PERM Suspension, Hospital Stocks | Talking Points This Week
A PERM suspension would directly affect green-card sponsorship rather than H-1B visas, so the near-term earnings impact could remain relatively limited. The key question is whether this marks a new phase in US scrutiny of Indian IT.
