May Lexus Sales top Mercedes, Close Gap on BMW
2014 Lexus IS
Lexus is fast making up ground in the luxury segment after May Lexus sales topped Mercedes-Benz for the second time in five months. Lexus now sits a mere 12,000 units behind BMW, and that gap stands to close even more when the much-anticipated RC sports coupe and NX compact crossover join the lineup later this year.
According to Mark Templin, executive VP of Lexus, “The volume is not the goal, it’s to do the right things.” Lexus sold 26,921 vehicles in May, up 21.1 percent year-over-year and topping Mercedes’ sales for the month.
The Lexus RC 350 F-Sport
Bloomberg notes that Lexus was overtaken in U.S. luxury sales by BMW and Mercedes after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan impacted production of the brand’s lineup. Lexus has been climbing back up ever since, and in the first quarter of this year, it was the top-selling U.S. luxury brand on a retail sales basis.
Jeff Bracken, Lexus GM and group vice president, said that the brand is on course to reach its mid-2000s profit peak on the strength of continued growth in America and a strong yen-dollar exchange rate. Lexus is looking to continue toward topping last year’s global all-time record of 523,000 units sold, and with time it should be in position to eclipse its 2007 U.S. sales record of 330,000 units.
2014 Lexus GX
Lexus will continue to build on the strong overall performance of the IS, which posted triple-digit gains for the sixth-straight month in May, and the GX, which has made triple-digit gains seven months in a row.
Other highlights for May Lexus sales include the ES, which was up 11 percent; the RX, up 8.7 percent, and its luxury utility lineup, which grew 20.2 percent overall.
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