Global sales of Mercedes Car Group down 3 percent in April

Sales at Mercedes Car Group decreased by 3 percent in April from a year ago as it sold 97,800 Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and Smart brand cars, automaker DaimlerChrysler AG said.

Meanwhile the year-to-date tally reached 384,600, down 2.8 percent from last year's 395,800 cars sold.

The April decline was felt across all of its regional markets, with western Europe posting a 5.5 percent drop, North America reporting a 1.6 percent decline and Asia reporting a 0.3 percent drop.

The decrease was marked by a drop in demand in the German market, the group's traditional base, with sales down 6.8 percent to 23,300 vehicles last month. For the year-to-date, sales were down 5.4 percent from last year, with 95,000 cars sold.

Sales of the Smart Fortwo rose by 14 percent to 6,900 sold.

Shares of DaimlerChrysler were down more than 1 percent to EUR60.46 (US$81.99).