Mercedes closes in on another U.S. luxury sales crown

(December 4, 2014) Record sales in the U.S. in November may have assured another luxury sales crown for Mercedes-Benz. BMW is likely to finish second in 2014 and Lexus to come in third again — providing there are no December sales upsets. Mercedes, which sold 35,478 vehicles in the U.S. last month, has a big 20,000 unit lead over BMW.

On a year-to-date basis, Mercedes-Benz total retails increased 6% to 296,382 from 279,501 through November 2013.

"November was one for the history books at Mercedes-Benz," said Stephen Cannon, president and CEO of MBUSA. "Beyond record sales, our rise to the top spot in J.D. Power's Sales Satisfaction Index shows our efforts on the customer experience front are resonating with owners."

Toyota’s Lexus division had its best November ever setting a sales record, but has sold just 271,000 vehicles so far this year and is unlikely to overtake its German rivals even though it expects to sell more than 300,000 units. Audi increased its sales for the 47th month in row and has already set an all-time yearly sales record.

Mercedes-Benz November sales were led by the C-, E- and M-Class model lines. The C-Class, which entered a new generation for the 2015 model year, took the lead at 9,259, up 17.5% from the 7,878 units sold the same month last year. The brand's best-selling SUV, the M-Class, followed with a volume of 5,190, up 19.9%, while the E-Class rounded out the top three at 4,737. At the high end, the flagship S-Class topped last year's November sales by 50.1% at 2,863.

Mercedes grabbed the luxury sales title last year with 312,534 units sold. BMW was second in 2013 with 309,280 and Lexus third at 273,847. The order of finish this year should be the same, but with increased sales by all three brands.

Despite being off 2.3 percent in November, BMW president and CEO of North America, Lugwig Willisch is optimistic. “The traffic in our showrooms was very strong in November, especially over the Thanksgiving weekend, and I expect that momentum to continue in December and carry us to an all-time sales record at the end of 2014,” Willisch said.