June 2011 sales report numbers indicate that all the three German luxury automakers saw a significant increase in the total units sold in the US. BMW brand outsold Mercedes-Benz last month, expanding its lead as the top-selling luxury auto brand in the U.S. so far this year. Lexus’s sales were down again due to the lack of inventory caused by the March earthquake.
BMW’s U.S. sales rose 13 percent last month to 21,637 compared with a year earlier. Mercedes sales rose 13 percent to 20,652 in June while delivery by Lexus fell 38 percent to 10,773, following the disruptive March 11 earthquake.
For the first time since 1997, BMW will most likely outsell Lexus at the end of this calendar year in the US. Lexus has been the top-selling luxury auto brand in the U.S. on an annual basis for the past 11 years.
BMW’s sales through June rose 13 percent to 113,705. Mercedes reported that their sales rose 7 percent to 110,926 in the U.S. while Lexus’s fell 18 percent to 88,010.
While last year Lexus came at the top, followed by BMW and Mercedes, in that order, 2011 is shaping to be a duel between the two “old competitors”. BMW has outsold Mercedes in the US since 2011.
BMW expects the second-half of the year sales to increase thanks to the introduction of another new 5 Series variant, the 528i xDrive, powered by a new four-cylinder turbocharged engine. Jim O’Donnell, BMWNA CEO, said for Bloomberg that the previous generation E60 528xi model accounted for 25 percent of 5 Series sales in 2011.
“That used to account for 25 percent of our 5 Series sales, so that will be a big lift for us in the last quarter,” O’Donnell said.
Mercedes-Benz is also betting on the 5 Series competitor, the E-Class, which recently went through a redesign exercise. In June 2011, E-Class sales rose 19 percent. The updated C-Class family of cars will be introduced in September which will boost the US sales. BMW’s new F30 3 Series goes on sale in Spring of 2012.
Ingolstadt-based Audi continues its impressive growth in the US market. Last month, US deliveries rose 17 percent to 10.051 vehicles. Porsche also saw an increase in sales, 19 percent or 2,546 units.
From the US luxury automakers pool, Cadillac reported a decrease of 7.9 percent last month to 10,860. It was the second time this year that more Cadillacs were sold in the U.S. than Lexus vehicles.
[Source: Bloomberg ]
Author: Horatiu Boeriu
Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2011/07/11/by-th ... n-the-u-s/