'Mercedes sales down in June'

German-US auto giant DaimlerChrysler said Wednesday that world-wide sales of its Mercedes brand cars declined in June as a result of a shake-up of the model portfolio of its ultra-compact Smart cars. DaimlerChrysler said in a statement it sold a total 117,200 cars worldwide last month, 1.3 percent fewer than in the same month last year.
Taking the six months to June altogether, customer deliveries declined by 1.5 percent to 617,700 units, the car maker said. Sales of the tiny Smart car slumped by 20.9 percent to 9,900 in June alone and were down 32.2 percent at 42,000 for the first six months, as the car maker focussed on its three-door Fortwo model. By contrast, sales of the prestigious Mercedes-Benz brand rose by 1.0 percent to 107,300 units in June alone and were up by 1.8 percent at 575,000 in the January-June period, both new records, DaimlerChrysler said. Mercedes deliveries were boosted by sales of the new E-Class and C-Class models, DaimlerChrysler said.