BMW leads in U.S. true-luxury for 2009

Automotive News Europe sister publication Automotive News estimates that 600,000 true-luxury cars were sold last year in the United States, about the same number as in 2008. The true-luxury total had dipped 30 percent in 2008.

The 2009 leader and new champion was the BMW brand, with 119,219. It was the closest race ever. BMW beat Mercedes-Benz by just 431 units.

Mercedes, which had an estimated 118,788 true-luxury sales last year, was the leader in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

BMW's 119,219 deliveries meant that 61 percent of its 196,502 sales were in the true-luxury category. Mercedes was a fraction better at 62 percent.

BMW and Mercedes finished second and third in the overall luxury segment. Lexus led that group, but 58 percent of Lexus sales were taken by the ES 350, IS 250 and 350 and RX 350 and 450h. All are priced below $45,000.


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AgentOrange - 2/21/2010 4:43:12 PM

-2 Boost

I'm not sure as to what "sticker price" refers to..
The base MSRP on my bimmer model was well below $45K, but the sticker price on my optioned up Cabrio was well over $45K.
Which side of the "luxury" fence would that fall on?

MPowerDK - 2/22/2010 1:59:12 AM

+1 Boost

My BMW a 316i 1,8 e46 from 2004 is a luxury car in this case, here in Denmark it had a price tag of more than USD 62.000, due to over high taxes on cars its horrible. I could have had a nice BMW (bigger engine) if I have lived in the US.

pushrod27 - 2/22/2010 3:50:52 PM

+1 Boost

I remember not too long ago when Escalade sale were red-hot, Cadillac was the leader in true luxury. Percentage-wise, people still pay more for Cadillacs than they do for Lexus cars (59% of Cadillacs sold are true luxury, vs. 39% for Lexus)...
Remember that Acura commercial where they showed all the grills from competing luxury cars... they didn't show a Cadillac, and excluded Cadillac on purpose. I found that disrespectful slight quite amusing. Not only does Cadillac out-sell Acura handily, but the cheapest Cadillacs begin where the most expenive Acuras end in price... Acura really had some nerve trying to exclude Cadillac from the prestige/luxury club, when their own membership is tenuous, at best.

Eyecarehawaii - 2/28/2010 1:11:10 AM

+1 Boost

"I define true luxury as a car with a sticker price of $45,000 or more. "

Umm - no. Next story.