STUTTGART, Germany (AP) -- German automaker Daimler AG said Friday that sales in its Mercedes-Benz Cars group dropped more than 25 percent in November to 84,500 vehicles worldwide.
Sales in the unit, which includes the Mercedes-Benz, AMG, Smart and Maybach brands, fell a total of 25.2 percent from the 113,000 cars sold in November 2007.
Sales of the company's Mercedes-Benz, AMG and Maybach cars dropped 27.6 percent to 74,400 while the ultra compact Smart dropped only 1.2 percent to 10,100 cars, a sign of consumer preference amid higher fuel prices.
Still, overall sales during the January through November period were only down 1 percent, to 1.15 million from 1.16 million vehicles in 2007.
Mercedes brand cars saw the biggest slump in sales in Japan, dropping 46 percent to 2,100 in November 2008. The U.S. followed with a 29.9 percent drop to 16,000.
Shares of Daimler were down 3.7 percent to euro22.88 in Frankfurt trading, part of a wider decline on the DAX-30, which was 3.4 percent lower on the day.
