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Mercedes U.S. Sales Drop in October Associated Press Mercedes-Benz USA said Wednesday that it sold nearly 5 percent fewer cars in the United States last month than it did a year earlier, hurt by lagging demand for its lines of luxury sedans. The company, a unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, sold 18,323 vehicles, a decrease of 4.9 percent from 19,273 in October 2003, with its S-Class cars leading the decline by slipping 32.7 percent to 1,733, and SL-Class vehicles falling 21.8 percent to 1,175. Sales of E-Class vehicles - Mercedes-Benz's best-selling car last month - dropped 3.4 percent to 5,011 in October. Meanwhile, the company said its new SLK-350 helped more than double sales of SLK-Class cars, soaring to 1,005 from 447 the year before. Sales of M-Class sport-utility vehicles added 9.9 percent to 2,319, and sales of CLK-Class cars gained 11.6 percent to 1,950. In the year-to-date period, total vehicle sales dipped 2 percent to 175,882 from 178,720 a year ago. Shares of DaimlerChrysler were unchanged at $41.79 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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