(January 5, 2012) BMW has apparently held off Mercedes for the title as the best selling luxury brand in the U.S. in 2011. According to a report in Automotive News today, BMW ended with annual sales of 247,907. Mercedes said its sales totaled 245,192.

It marks the first time BMW has won the luxury sales crown in the U.S. and officially ends Lexus' 11-year reign atop the luxury rankings. Lexus lost considerable sales because of the March earthquake in Japan. Mercedes has won the title once, in 1999.

Both automakers increased incentives in November and carried forward customer discounts into December, according to Ivan Drury, an industry analyst with Edmunds.com.

Mercedes increased incentive spending in November by 39 percent compared with a year earlier, and BMW's incentives rose 25 percent, according to Autodata Corp. Many of those discounts and incentives are on the C class and 3 series, which are the automakers' top sellers.

Source: Automotive News