Mercedes-Benz ended BMW’s two-year reign as the top-selling U.S. luxury vehicle brand and it is crowned as the No. 1 U.S. luxury brand for 2013. The Stuttgart-based automaker posted record sales last year aided by the introduction of new models, like the high-seller CLA. Mercedes said 75 percent of buyers of its new CLA, which starts at $29,900, were new to the brand.
BMW came second with only 3,254 units sold less than Mercedes in 2013.
Mercedes posted a 17 percent gain in December 2013 with 33,007 deliveries, For the year, the brand’s sales rose 14 percent to 312,534.
BMW reported December sales of 37,389, a drop of just 10 from a year earlier, as deliveries surged 56 percent for its 3 Series and 4 Series sedans. The Munich-based automaker’s annual total rose 10 percent to 309,280, topping its record from 2007.
In November, Mercedes-Benz increased their lead with 7,610 more units sold than BMW.
In just four months, Mercedes sold 14,113 CLA cars.
“Flat out, CLA has been one of the best product launches we’ve done in 20 years,” Steve Cannon, chief executive officer of Mercedes-Benz USA, said in an interview.
Third place in the U.S. luxury sales goes to Lexus with 273,847 units for the year. Cadillac reported a 0.5 percent sales decrease to 18,165 for the month and a 22 percent increase to 182,543 for the year.
Audi comes sixth in U.S. sales with 158,061, an all-time high.
[Source: Bloomberg]
