Sales of Mercedes luxury vehicles slipped 0.4 percent through October 2016 to 277,863, yet the Stuttgart-based automaker has expanded its lead over Lexus, which slid 4.7 percent to 260,996. Sales of the BMW brand declined 9 percent to 254,150. In October, BMW reported a decreased in sales of 18.4 percent for a total of 24,017 compared to 29,439 vehicles sold in October, 2015. Lexus slid 6.2 percent and Mercedes declined just 1 percent the same month.
As auto-sales growth has slowed this year in the U.S., the biggest gainers have been smaller luxury brands with new SUV offerings, like Jaguar. Sister brand Land Rover is up 7.8 percent. Volvo, best known for its XC90 crossover, has increased sales 21 percent. And Tesla’s Model X electric crossover grew about 78 percent through September, according to Autodata’s estimate.
Audi said its October sales increased 0.1 percent to 17,721 deliveries. The all-new A4 and Q7 led the gains and the Q3 continued to attract new consumers to the brand. Year-to-date sales have risen 2.9 percent to 169,900.
U.S. luxury brand Cadillac said its sales fell 9 percent to 13,948 units.
Sales of new cars and trucks fell an estimated 4 percent in October as consumer demand waned, according to Autodata Corp.
