BMW Surges Past Mercedes

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's namesake brand outsold Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz in April to be the month's top-selling luxury brand in the U.S. and to take the lead for the year by just 29 vehicles.

BMW's U.S. deliveries, boosted by sales of the new 5 Series sedan and X3 sport-utility vehicle, rose 8.9 percent to 18,801 compared to the same month last year, the Munich-based automaker said. Deliveries for the first four months of the year rose to 71,417 vehicles, to lead Mercedes' 71,388 sales and the 64,932 deliveries by Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus, reported The Detroit News.

"It's going to be more or less the same for the rest of the year, a horse race," said Jesse Toprak, an industry analyst with TrueCar.com, a website that tracks auto sales trends. "It's going to be a photo finish."

Lexus has been the top-selling luxury auto brand in the U.S. on an annual basis for the past 11 years. Its lead over BMW narrowed to 9,216 last year, less than half the 19,473 gap in 2009. Mercedes finished in third place last year.

Mark Templin, head of U.S. Lexus sales, last month said the brand doesn't expect to retain its volume lead in the U.S. this year because of supply disruptions following the March 11 earthquake. All but one Lexus model is made only in Japan.

U.S. sales of BMW's 5 Series rose 77 percent last month and the X3 more than tripled its deliveries, the company said.

U.S. dealers sold 18,042 Mercedes-Benz cars and SUVs last month, 2.3 percent more than a year earlier, Daimler said.

Lexus sales last month slipped 4.3 percent to 17,576, the company said. While Lexus has stumbled, German luxury makers also are benefiting from improved credit markets that make it less expensive to offer low lease payments, Toprak said.

Ernst Lieb, head of Mercedes' U.S. unit, said the race to be the year's top-selling luxury carmaker in the U.S. isn't his sole mission.

"My instructions are to find a balance between market share and profitability," Lieb said in an interview last month at the New York auto show.

BMW's goal is to be the No. 1 German brand, said Jim O'Donnell, head of the company's U.S. sales operations.

"We've got more new product coming," he said at the New York show. "I think we will outsell them this year."

Among the American carmakers, sales for GM's Cadillac luxury division rose 16 percent to 13,127 last month, as CTS sales rose 29 percent aided by the new coupe version.

Ford Motor Co. sold 7,236 Lincoln luxury vehicles in April, 43 fewer than a year earlier, according to a statement from the Dearborn-based automaker.

Industrywide U.S. auto sales may have exceeded a 13 million vehicle seasonally adjusted annual pace for the third straight month.