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HOBOKEN, N.J. – Based on alarmingly low sales, the Mercedes-Benz R-Class cross/utility vehicle desperately needs a makeover, the kind normally associated with television shows about families down on their luck in run-down homes ready to topple over.
The brand’s bosses insist there’s nothing wrong with the product, which launched in 2005. It’s just not leaving the showroom floor.
Year-to-date, the R-Class is the seventh-best-selling vehicle in the Mercedes lineup, excluding the Sprinter cargo van, which is outselling the R more than 2-to-1. Its M-Class platform mate is having a so-so year – but outpacing the R nearly 10-to-1.
First-half U.S. sales are a paltry 1,409 units, down 29.3% from like-2009, according to Ward’s data.
If this keeps up, the R-Class might not be long for this world, or at least this country. China, interestingly, loves the R-Class, which is produced exclusively in the U.S. at Mercedes’ plant in Tuscaloosa, AL.
But the U.S. market never has embraced the vehicle. It must be that well-heeled Americans see through the ploy of dressing up a minivan in luxury clothing.
Understandably, Mercedes executives despise comparisons to minivans, which fit in a luxury-brand portfolio about as well as a fullback in a cocktail dress.
