Mercedes Extends U.S. Sales Lead Over BMW, Lexus Despite Decreased Demand

Mercedes-Benz has extended its lead over BMW and Lexus in U.S. sales despite suffering from falling sales.

In April 2017, a total of 159,793 luxury vehicles were sold in the U.S., a 1.6 per cent decrease over the same month in 2016. Sales of Mercedes-Benz models dropped by 7.9 per cent, BMW sales fell by 9.3 per cent and Lexus saw a decrease of 11 per cent.

Excluding its commercial sales, Mercedes sold 26,932 vehicles last month and despite that being fewer than the year prior, the brand’s sales for 2017 are still up 1 per cent over 2016, partially driven by a 48 per cent, year-to-date jump in sales of Mercedes-AMG vehicles.

In a statement, Mercedes-Benz USA chief executive Dietmar Exler said “While we’re outpacing last year, we saw some challenges in April due to limits on availability of some of our most popular model lines (GLC, CLA and GLA) during model changeover. That said, we are looking for another record year.”

BMW’s local chief executive Bernhard Kuhnt provided a similar explanation to Mercedes for sluggish April sales, blaming a “tight supply of key models” while also stating that “our very popular new 5-Series is still ramping up production as the latest variants are making their way to our dealerships.” BMW sold 94,306 vehicles through April.

Lexus has encountered the biggest slump in the sector and in the first four months of the year, is down 15 per cent from 2016.