Lexus Overtakes BMW in U.S. Luxury Sales

By adpock - December 6, 2016

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All in all, the luxury automotive industry in the United States isn’t doing as well as many would have hoped this year. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some bright spots, particularly for Lexus.

Across the board, only Mercedes-Benz and Lincoln have shown actual growth this year over last. So far this year, Lexus’s business has shrunk 4.7% overall. You’d think that would be horrendous news, but if you look inside the numbers, as Nasdaq did recently, there’s a silver lining: namely that Lexus has overtaken BMW and jumped into second place for U.S. sales among major luxury auto makers.

Part of the reason for such position jockeying is because BMW has had a bit of a bad stretch lately, certainly when compared to Lexus. BMW sold 346,000 units in 2015, which was a 1.9% increase over 2014. But so far in 2016, BMW’s sales have declined by nine big percentage points.

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Now compare that to Lexus, who sold 344,600 units in 2015, which was a whopping 10.7% year-over-year increase. That’s a lot to live up to, so it’s understandable that Lexus sales dropped this year by 4.7% — well, understandable to me, but perhaps not to the top brass. And certainly they have to be worried about the fact that all the marque’s car sales have declined significantly, even though they have been buoyed by a 6.5% increase in SUV sales — Lexus’s bread and butter.

With one month yet to go, it’s unlikely the tale of the tape will read much differently by year end. So for now, let’s revel a bit in the monumental task of supplanting BMW for second place.

Okay, good. Now everyone can get back to work figuring out how to upend Mercedes from the number one slot.