BMW continues to lead the luxury car sales race in the United States but is coming under threat from Lexus.
Mercedes-Benz had been the top seller of luxury vehicles in the U.S. after the first quarter but in the second quarter of 2021, BMW outsold Mercedes-Benz. In the third-quarter, Lexus topped both BMW and Mercedes-Benz, reporting 81,093 sales during the three-month period compared to the 75,619 vehicles sold by BMW, and the 55,130 sold by Mercedes-Benz. Audi trails its rivals and reported 41,019 sales in the quarter, a 14 per cent decrease from a year earlier.
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In year-to-date sales, BMW leads Lexus by 4,808 units while also holding a 28,000 vehicle advantage over Mercedes-Benz.
A look at the sales figures posted by Lexus reveals that its RX and NX SUVs accounted for more than half of its deliveries. It also managed to outsell BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi despite having fewer cars on dealership lots.
“What we have seen throughout the shortage is that Toyota and Lexus have extremely efficient distribution systems,” Autotrader analyst Michelle Krebs told BNN Bloomberg. “Despite having the lowest inventories in the industry, they still seem to manage to get vehicles quickly to dealers for sale.”
In a statement, Mercedes-Benz president of U.S. operations, Dimitris Psillakis acknowledged that the semiconductor shortage continues to impact the brand.
“Despite very strong demand across our lineup, the global semiconductor shortage created some supply challenges in Q3,” Psillakis said.
