There was a time in the U.S. when Cadillac and Lincoln dominated luxury car sales. That time was called the last half of the 20th century. For almost the whole first decade of our current century, Lexus was the top-selling premium brand. In 2011, BMW wrested away the crown and held it until 2013, when Mercedes-Benz took its turn at the top. BMW regained the title in 2014 and kept it in 2015 although it was very, very close. Now the old king of the premium hill—Lexus—appears to be making a strong move to capture the top spot, and Mercedes-Benz is also making a bid to knock BMW off the throne, again.
In April 2016, BMW of North America reported that total U.S. BMW sales were off 12.5 percent from a year ago. The company sold 30,033 vehicles, a drop from 34,310 over March 2015. So far in 2016, 70,613 BMWs have been delivered compared to 78,492 at the same time last year. That’s a 10 percent drop.
BMW of North America President and CEO Ludwig Willisch tried to put the situation in perspective, saying, “It’s been a tumultuous first quarter of the year for business in the U.S. with plenty of volatility even in the premium vehicle segment. The desire for premium Sports Activity Vehicles continues accelerating at a strong pace in the U.S. and I’m very pleased that our SAV plant in South Carolina will make another production increase in the months ahead to help us satisfy the ever-growing demand for our X models.”
The BMW X1 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles actually did well, and the new 7 Series posted a 16.1 percent jump above sales of the last-generation 7 Series in March 2015. The rest of the fleet, however—not so much.
Mini sales, which do not count in the luxury sales race, were down 18.3 percent from a year ago. BMW motorcycle sales on the other hand, were up 18.1 percent. We might guess an early spring had something to do with that.
Not all segments of BMW four-wheel retail sales were down. Certified Pre-Owned BMW deliveries were up 6.7 percent in March and regular pre-owned BMW sales were 8.1 percent above the same month in 2015.
As it turned out, BMW was not the only luxury brand to see a drop in March sales. The aforementioned Lexus and Mercedes-Benz brand sales were also down, just not as much as BMW.
Lexus deliveries were off 2.8 percent to 30,198 units—which was the best of all luxury brands in March 2016—while Mercedes-Benz fell 5.9 percent to 28,164. Even though that made Lexus the top-seller and BMW in second place for March, Mercedes-Benz kept the lead for the year to date at the end of the first quarter, with Lexus in second and BMW third.
Strangely enough, the entire luxury sector did not experience the drop that the leaders did. Infiniti, Jaguar, Audi, and Porsche sales were up in March.
Sales of new BMW models, such as the M2 and 330e will start this year, but the bedrock of BMW sales—the 3 Series and 5 Series—are still within their normal life cycles so there won’t be a new model launch to jumps start a resurgence in sales. If BMW wants to keep the crown, it will have to do it the old-fashioned way and grind out the sales.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
