Instead of writing multiple posts rehashing tons of press release I figured I’d just lump a
bunch of sales records into one post. Following on the heels of BMW’s record setting pace, Mercedes Benz announced it
too broke records. I’m not quite sure how but they did. And they did it with car sales too. Overall MB was up 4.1
percent on the strength of the new SLK and CLK classes. They even sold 45 SLRs and 244 Maybachs. Honda’s sales were up
three percent for the year. Most of the growth came from the Acura division though with the TSX and TL posting the
largest gains. The big losers for Honda were not surprisingly the Element, Insight and S2000. And a really big surprise
was the decrease in Accord sales by 3.1 percent. Is it’s reign as sedate family sedan king over?
Subaru slipped by with an improvement on the year selling 187,402 cars in 2004 compared to 186,819 in 2003. Strong
sales of the new Legacy offset poor performances by the Baja (down 32%!), Impreza and even Forester. Maybe that tells
Subaru it?s time for some needed changes on the other half of their line-up.
These numbers are compiled from really boring press releases. If you want the actual number breakdowns let us
know.