“Daimler AG’s new Mercedes-Benz sports car is luring customers away from Porsche SE’s iconic 911, even before the gullwing SLS AMG reaches dealers. Orders placed in advance of tomorrow’s showroom debut in Germany mean that new customers may wait until 2012 to get behind the wheel of the 177,310-euro ($237,000) supercar. The sales have been taking a bite out of demand for Porsche as Daimler battles to attract younger, affluent drivers to Mercedes. “The inflow from the Porsche camp is intriguing; we’ve already had a lot of conquests,” said Thomas Rosier, managing director of Autohaus Rosier GmbH in Oldenburg near Bremen. The family-owned retailer, with 40 locations in Germany offering Mercedes, Peugeot and Volkswagen models, has sold 40 SLS cars and could have agreed to deliver more if stock was available.” – from BusinessWeek