S-Class sales have apparently dropped by 37% this first quarter relative to the same period last year.
While it is still to be the synonym for a luxury limousine, recent sales of the latest and greatest Mercedes-Benz S-Class however has unfortunately not exactly been stellar. And it has since come to a drastic enough point that its maker has decided to scale back production of its Sonderklasse, with the plant where it is made cutting back to a single shift for the first time ever since it first opened back in 2020.
In a recent interview with Automobilwoche, a company spokesperson had announced the S-Class will be manufactured in a single shift at the Factory 56 in Sindelfingen. This halving of the current shift number at the facility will come into effect following this upcoming August vacation, with some of the workers to be given other production-related tasks at the plant where the all-electric EQS is also manufactured.
Looking back at the first quarter sales date for the S-Class, year-on-year deliveries plummeted by nearly 37% to only 16,900 cars (inclusive of its AMG and Maybach derivatives). In the second quarter meanwhile, combined deliveries of the S-Class, EQS, EQS SUV, and GLS dropped by almost 23% to 33,400 cars.
Now according to the publication, the assembly plant has been underutilized for months already because of a sharp decline in S-Class sales. Automobilwoche further cites a supplier of interior components saying that scaling down production of the S-Class as catastrophic to the supply chain.
It is not just sales of large Mercedes models that are falling through the floor however, as deliveries of the various flagship Audi models experience a whopping 46% year-on-year decline to just 5,788 cars between January and June. Interestingly enough though, demand for BMW’s 7- and 8-Series increased by 11.4% to 30,249 cars during the same period.
The slump in demand for the S-Class has been primarily attributed to the current global financial unease, with higher interest rates and an expected upcoming economic downturn seeing many of its potential owners putting a temporary pause on the purchases of bigger-ticket items. It has to be said too that this large luxury limo is facing more rivals than ever before at present, with even its own maker having launched an SUV alternative to better cater to what its high-rolling buyers prefer these days.
Mercedes-Benz is nevertheless hoping that its upcoming mid-cycle update for the S-Class will rejuvenate the sales of this luxury limo somewhat, with the automaker apparently having dumped more dosh into this refresh than it usually does for a facelift. Of the three Germanic luxury limos, the big Benz is to be the only one to still offer a twelve-cylinder engine in its posh Maybach variant.
