By Mike Ramsey
July 1 (Bloomberg) — Daimler AG‘s June U.S. sales rose because of its new Smart two-seat car, while Bayerische Motoren Werke AG‘s Mini small cars posted a gain as the company sold fewer luxury vehicles amid a worsening economy.
U.S. sales for Daimler were up 13 percent from a year earlier to 22,121, including 2,545 Smart cars, the Stuttgart, Germany-based company said in a statement. Its Mercedes-Benz luxury brand reported a drop of less than 1 percent to 19,576.
Mini sales climbed 25 percent to 5,211 cars, Munich-based BMW said in a statement. The company’s total fell 11 percent to 26,155 vehicles, as the BMW brand slid 17 percent to 20,994.
“BMW sales in June were probably also impacted by the stock market and declining home values,” said John Wolkonowicz, an automotive analyst at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “BMW’s buyers are younger than Mercedes buyers, causing them to feel the pinch more from their declining stock portfolio and home equity.”
The companies’ U.S. sales of luxury cars and sport-utility models are dropping as the German automakers hesitate to ship more vehicles from Europe because of the euro’s strength against the dollar, Wolkonowicz said. U.S. luxury-vehicle sales have fallen faster than the industry total as declining home values and stock portfolios have damped demand among wealthier buyers.
Gasoline prices averaging more than $4 a gallon also have spurred sales of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
BMW has only a four-day supply of Mini Cooper cars, said Andrew Cutler, a BMW spokesman in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. A 60-day inventory is typical for the industry. Prices for the cars start at about $18,000, and a Mini Cooper with manual transmission gets about 37 miles per gallon.
The waiting list for Daimler’s Smart cars, which began U.S. sales in January, averages about a year. The model gets 41 mpg in highway driving and has a starting price of $11,590, said Jessica Gamarra, a Smart USA spokeswoman in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Ramsey in Southfield, Michigan, at mramsey6bloomberg.net
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