2020 was a year most automakers would like to forget and that’s especially true in the luxury segment as every major brand posted a decline in U.S. sales.
However, the luxury sales crown is a closely watched contest and only a few thousand units separated BMW, Mercedes and Lexus last year.
BMW took top honors as they sold 278,732 vehicles in the United States. That’s a drop of 17.5%, but it’s worth noting the automaker was fined $18 (£13.3 / €14.7) million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for inflating their sales between 2015 and 2019.
Also Read: 2020 Was Brutal For Automakers As Many Post Decline In Sales
Second place went to Lexus which sold 275,041 vehicles last year. That’s a decline of 7.7% and the drop can be partly attributed to weak sales of the ES and RX.
Rounding out the podium is Mercedes. They sold 274,916 passengers vehicles – excluding vans – for a drop of 13.0%. C-Class sales plummeted 46.5% for the year, while sales of the E-Class / CLS and S-Class were both off by more than 30%.
Over at Audi, sales dropped 17% to 186,620 units. Their big losers were the A4, A6 and A7 which all saw declines of between 31-42%. On the bright side, Q3 sales skyrocketed 84% for the year.
Acura came in fifth place with sales of 136,983 units. That’s a decline of 13.5% and that can be chalked up to weaker demand for the outgoing TLX and MDX. However, both models are new for 2021.
Cadillac sales were down 17.1% to 129,495 units, while Lincoln sales were off 6.1% at 105,410 units.
Lincoln sales will likely drop again this year as the brand has axed the MKZ and Continental. While they were Lincoln’s slowest selling vehicles, aside from the MKT, they still contributed 17,780 units to the bottom line last year.
Lastly, Infiniti sales were down 32.5% to 79,502 units. The drop was largely due to a decline in Q50 and QX60 sales which were off 36.4% and 47.0%, respectively.
