Alabama-Built Vehicles Help Accelerate Mercedes Past Luxury Rivals Lexus, BMW

By Jamie Butters
Bloomberg

Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz topped Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus in U.S. sales last month to widen its lead in this year’s luxury race that’s being dominated by sport utility vehicles.

Mercedes, which had fallen behind Lexus for the past two months, regained the top spot in luxury sales in September by outselling the Toyota brand by nearly 3,000 units. Alabama-built Mercedes models GLE and GLS had gains of 11 percent and 5 percent respectively over September 2016. Through the first nine months of the year, the GLE is outpacing sales by 4.1 percent and GLS sales are up 10.4 percent compared to the same period last year.

The strong September showing helped keep Mercedes in the lead for full-year sales. Vying for the No. 2 spot are Lexus and BMW AG’s namesake brand, which is only about 500 cars ahead of Lexus in year-to-date sales. Volkswagen AG’s Audi remains a solid fourth place but keeps gaining ground on the three top luxury brands.“We’re seeing very good momentum heading into the fall,” Audi of America President Scott Keogh said on Bloomberg Television. Consumer confidence remains strong but automakers still need to be disciplined as the market plateaus, he added.

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