For the month of February 2011 in the U.S., BMW AG's namesake brand sold more cars and SUVs than Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and General Motors Co.'s Cadillac. Cadillac sold 15,768 units, 70% higher than the record it posted the previous year. This month also marks the first time that Cadillac outsold Lexus and Mercedes since June 2005. Meanwhile, BMW posted an 8.7% increase last month to 16,416, taking the place of Mercedes-Benz as the top-selling luxury line in the U.S.
Mercedes sold 4% more vehicles to 15,464, while Lexus, which was the luxury leader last year, saw its sales climb 0.2% to 13,814. Lexus dropped to fourth place in February after fending off the German automakers to retain the top spot for the 11th straight year. Through two months, BMW leads Mercedes 32,321 to 31,862. According to TrueCar, BMW's incentives dropped by 23% from last year to $3,674 per car. Meanwhile, Mercedes discounts increased by 4.4% to $3,289 per vehicle.
TrueCar said that Toyota spent an average of $2,295 per vehicle on Lexus incentives, a 39% increase. Jesse Toprak, an industry analyst with TrueCar, said that GM enticed employees and friends by giving them aggressive incentives in February. GM said that this contributed to GM sales overall and “clearly helped Cadillac.” GM said that Cadillac placed fourth in U.S. luxury sales last year and hasn't been the leader in annual luxury sales since 1997. [via autonews - sub. required]
