Customers are migrating from one luxury brand to another in the United States. It was a 13% increase for Daimler AG in April, compared to last year’s figures of 29 188 units sold. BMW reported a 6.9% sale compared to their 29 952 units sold same interval last year.
For April 2015, Mercedes-Benz won the race against BMW and now leads its German rival by selling 1 900 vehicles more. Toyota’s premium brand, Lexus, comes in the third place, by 4 288 vehicles less compared to the leader of the overall luxury ranking. In March, BMW was leading the ranking, but they outsold Mercedes-Benz by only 336 cars and Lexus by 1 312 cars.
Larry Dominique, the president of the ALG Inc., the company setting the auto resale values for the industry, estimates that the luxury segment will expand 7 to 8% this year, outpacing the 5% growth expected for the total auto sales.
The growth is due to luxury automakers sending into the market several lower-priced models, to attract young customers, says Larry Dominique. Luxury sales are growing as the average prices are dropping, together with less expensive vehicles being added to lineups and discount leases being offered generously by car dealers.
Mercedes gains ground by the help of their entry-level models, the C-Class and the CLA sedans, but also by its GLA crossover. In 2015, the German brand has recorded a 9% sales growth, selling 107 344 vehicles.
The Munich rival can brag about a 5.9% increase for the 3 and 4 Series and a 8.1% increase for the 5 Series. BMW has sold 105 444 this year so far.
The Japanese building the Lexus are talking about their best 4-month start in the 26-year history of the brand from the Land of the Rising Sun. The Toyota premium brand has recorded a 17% increase, selling 103 056 in 2015.
The results of the study exclude Daimler’s Sprinter vans and the smart cars, together with BMW’s Mini, which are not considered luxury vehicles.
