BMW held on in December to top the U.S. luxury segment in 2015 for its fourth luxury-sales crown in five years.
BMW won the U.S. luxury-auto sales crown even with a 17 percent drop in December deliveries, ahead of Lexus and Mercedes-Benz.
BMW finished 2015 with luxury sales of 346,023 vehicles, followed by Lexus with 344,601 and Mercedes with 343,088. All three brands set annual sales records last year.
The results exclude BMW’s MINI models and Daimler’s work trucks and Smart cars, which aren’t luxury vehicles.
The German automakers have held the top spot in U.S. luxury sales since 2011, when BMW ended Lexus’s 11-year reign. BMW previously won the U.S. luxury-sales crown in 2011, 2012 and 2014. Mercedes-Benz won in 2013.
“The new sales record in 2015 is the third record year in a row for BMW with the numbers further emphasizing the growth of luxury trucks, which are now one-third of BMW sales in the U.S.,” Ludwig Willisch, CEO of BMW of North America said.
The luxury segment as a whole grew substantially, with U.S. sales rising 7.7 percent in 2015 to top 2 million vehicles for the first time, at 2.03 million.
