Lexus nabbed the luxury sales crown in July. The maker's IS models helped to lead the way with a 24.7% jump.
The battle for the luxury vehicle sales crown has been a two brand clash for the last couple of years: BMW and Mercedes-Benz. However, the former champ, Lexus, is back in the game after it outsold the two German makers in July.
Lexus reported sales of 27,333 vehicles during July, while Mercedes-Benz reported 27,192, followed by BMW’s 26,409 units. All three brands also posted sales records for the month as new products, relatively inexpensive financing and economic recovery helped push sales.
However, with all three brands reporting double-digit increases so far this year, BMW has built a small lead over its rivals, selling a total of 183,791 vehicles, while Mercedes-Benz has sold 178,816 and Lexus has sold 166,022.
While luxury brands typically claim they don’t care about the sales title, Mercedes-Benz executives were gleeful when they took the U.S. sales crown from BMW at the end of last year. Lexus proudly wore the crown for nearly a decade before it was displaced by BMW.
Jeff Bracken, Lexus general manager, noted overall luxury sales also outpaced the industry in July cited Kelly Blue Books estimate the luxury segment now accounts for nearly 25% of the industry’s growth so far this year.
Lexus has now posted 10 consecutive months of sales increases and the new IS 250 and IS 350 have given Lexus a huge lift, he said.
Ludwig Willisch, president and CEO, BMW of North America, said the momentum for luxury sales continue to and BMW expects sales to remain strong as it rolls out new products such as the X4 and 4 Series Gran Coupe.
“Adding July to our unbroken string of record months, we’re driving toward another banner year for the brand,” said Stephen Cannon, president and CEO of MBUSA. “We’ve got two game-changing models in the wings with the launch of our all-new 2015 C-Class later this month, followed by a sporty new entry-level SUV, the GLA,
Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and BMW aren’t the only luxury brands posting strong sales.
(BMW beats earnings forecast for quarter. For more, Click Here.)
Audi is on track to another record years, Porsche has seen a steady increase in sales and Infiniti posted a 10% sales increase during July.
“Jaguar Land Rover in the U.S. had its best July since 2005 driven by our highest performance models, the F-Type, which had its best month ever, and the increasingly popular Range Rover Sport,” said Joe Eberhardt, president and CEO, Jaguar Land Rover North America.
(Click Here for details about the role the F Sport plays in Lexus sales.)
Acura, Volvo and Cadillac, however, continue to struggle.
(To see more about Toyota’s quarterly results, Click Here.)
After a steep sales decline last month, Acura is hoping the introduction of the new TLX performance will bolster the division’s sales numbers through the balance of the year. Right now sales are down 1.8%. Volvo reported in its July sales press release it is down 11% for the year.
Cadillac also has benefitted from the introduction of the unique 2015 Escalade sport utility vehicle. However, it is getting crushed by its rivals in the more competitive passenger-car and crossover segments. Overall Cadillac sales dropped 2% despite the big surge in sales of the Escalade.