The race for the top spot in car luxury sales in the United States continue with BMW and Mercedes-Benz going neck-to-neck.
In November, Mercedes-Benz topped BMW by more than 5,000 vehicle sales in the U.S., coming within 1,600 of the lead in deliveries of luxury automobiles. This is the second month in a row that Stuttgart-based automaker takes the win for most luxury sales.
Top selling models from Mercedes were the facelifted C-Class and E-Class models. Sales rose 47 percent to 26,796 in November. C-Class sales in November more than doubled to 8,358 from 3,930, while the 3 Series sales account for 7,568 units. According to Jesse Toprak, an industry analyst with TrueCar.com, Mercedes is “creating a lot of volume play with the cheap leases they are putting out there.”
BMW reported 21,521 car sales, a 7 percent increase over same month last year.
With November’s results, BMW’s lead for the year narrowed to 1,582 units over Mercedes. BMW sales have risen 12 percent to 221,073 from year-to-date, while Mercedes rose 12 percent to 219,491.
Japanese automaker Lexus continues to recover from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan that have affected supplies. Lexus increased U.S. deliveries in November by 6.7 percent to 19,458. Year-to-date sales fell 14 percent to 173,197, and for the first time in eleven years, Lexus will lose the top spot in the US.
Audi continues its sales growth as well with 3.6 percent increase or 9,700 vehicles sold last month. Year-to-date sales are reported to be 104,906 units.
Cadillac luxury brand sales fell 5.6 percent last month to 11,145.
Heading into December, BMW and Mercedes will continue this close race and the winner seems to be undecided for now.
[Source: BusinessWeek ]
Author: Horatiu Boeriu
Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2011/12/08/by-th ... opped-bmw/