2014 Mercedes S-Class Helps Set New Q1 Sales Mark for the Brand

It turns out that the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class isn't just raising ye olde bar for luxury, it's also having a similar effect on Mercedes' sales total. Last month, for example, the ultra-premium sedan enjoyed an 89.1 percent increase in volume on the strength of 2,299 deliveries. Further, backed by steep sales increases in January and February, the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class has delivered 5,369 units for the quarter as a whole, reflecting a 74.5 percent improvement. Those growth rates also led M-B on both a monthly and a quarterly basis, helping the brand set monthly and quarterly sales records, and then enabling the automaker as a whole to set a new quarterly benchmark.

Along with the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the brand also had five other entries in the black last month:

• Mercedes-Benz E-Class—6,335 sales, up 58 percent
• Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class—604 sales, up 7.3 percent
• Mercedes-Benz M-Class—4,052 sales, up 15.7 percent
• Mercedes-Benz G-Class—299 sales, up 19.6 percent
• Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class—3,345 sales, up 24.2 percent

The brand also remains happy with the performance of the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class that attracted 1,725 sales during its initial March at dealerships.

"Thanks to a best-ever March, we've hit a new first quarter sales record in 2014," said Steve Cannon, president and CEO of MBUSA. "Our CLA is making strong headway in the entry luxury arena with sales of more than 20,000 units after just six months on the market. With another knockout series of products waiting in the wings, we expect even higher growth this year and beyond."

The Mercedes-Benz brand closed the books on March with 27,401 total sales, up 11.2 percent over the same month last year; including sales from its Sprinter commercial van division (1,915 units, up 25.2 percent) and the "smart" brand of city cars (775 units, down 16.6 percent), MBUSA tallied 30,091 sales during March, reflecting an 11 percent improvement.