Mercedes sales are up 15% when compared to last year, and the 30,000 unit sales prediction for the CLA-Class has been revised and is now at 50,000 units. There's clearly something Mercedes didn't account for, and that's what analyst Cliff Banks recently tweeted:
Mercedes CLA conquest rate at 70%. Taking accord & Camry buyers. Originally thought to be 30, 000 volume Mercedes execs now think it's 50k
Those sales conquests are indeed from the expected places (Mini Cooper and Audi A3 owners), but also from people who had been buying top trim level Accords and Camrys. It's easy to go onto either manufacturers' website and spec out a car that costs $32k, and with the CLA starting at $29,990, that even leaves a bt of room to tick and option box or two. As the old saying goes "it's not the size that matters, is whether one is a boring Camry and the other is a sexy looking Benz."*
