2019 will be year of the truck for Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz dealers expect to increase crossover and SUV sales in 2018 largely from having more inventory of the GLC compact crossover, but 2019 will be the brand's big opportunity to boost light-truck sales.

"We're talking about 2019 in the Mercedes world as being the year of truck," said Greg Barnes, chairman of the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Board and president of Bill Ussery Motors Group in Coral Gables, Fla., which operates two Mercedes stores.

Expected in 2019 are the redesigned GLE midsize crossover, likely to go on sale early in the year; the redesigned GLS large SUV, likely to come later in the year; and the new GLB compact crossover, slated for summer, Barnes said. The GLB is expected to be sold in five- and seven-passenger variants for the U.S., he said.

Higher volumes of the GLC will help in 2018 and 2019. The U.S. is getting a "substantial increase" in GLC supplies this year, Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Dietmar Exler told Automotive News in January.

"We're very happy with that," Exler said. "The car is doing extremely well with customers. We were outsold last year a couple of times, so we increased supply to the dealers drastically."

Mercedes and its dealership network started 2018 with supplies and demand more in balance than in the previous year, Barnes said.

"As we went into 2017, we were a little too heavy on the car side and not enough on the truck side," he said. "That balance didn't get really shifted until midyear, really late summer. So the first six months were a little bit choppier for most Mercedes-Benz dealerships across the country."

That shouldn't be an issue this year. In fact, as the higher GLC supplies begin to arrive early this spring, it could be enough to make the compact crossover the brand's best-selling vehicle in 2018, surpassing the C class, Barnes said.

"They're talking about it having volumes that will outsell the C class for 2018, which is pretty remarkable," he said. "Based on the numbers we're seeing today, that's where we're headed."

Dealers also are looking forward to the arrival of the new A-class sedan and redesigned G-class SUV later in 2018. For the full year, Mercedes dealers and executives expect trucks to become the majority of the brand's U.S. luxury sales. The brand fell just short of that in 2017, with 48.6 percent of its U.S. luxury sales coming from SUVs and crossovers.