Luxury Cars: And The Winner Is - Totally Up In The Air

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

We’ve been following the race for the #1 luxury brand in the U.S.A. for quite a while with rapt attention, and have been predicting all along that it will come down to the wire. It looks even more so after dissecting the November numbers. Or rather after leaving the dissecting to Bloomberg.

After cleaning out the non-luxurious items (Smarts, Minis, Mercedes vans, that kind of stuff) from the data, Bloomberg, which has a fetish (or the right readership) for these stories, reports that BMW was the top selling luxury brand in November. But let’s dispense with the November numbers. Where do they stand year-to-date with one month to go until the fat lady clears her throat?

So far, according to Bloomberg’s numbers, Lexus delivered 201,769 vehicles through November, inches ahead of BMW (196,833), which is mere millimeters in front of Mercedes (196,288.)

TrueCar.com says that Lexus received some performance-enhancing drugs: They more than doubled the incentives. BMW and Mercedes, emboldened by fresh product and Toyota’s recalls, were stingier with the discounts.

Brian Smith, vice president of U.S. Lexus sales, is confident that Lexus will top BMW and Mercedes, and that “it will be an 11th year for Lexus, in terms of luxury car and SUV sales.”

The other guys? Not even close. Bloomberg delivers some data, but they don’t jibe with the data tabulated by Automotive News. Also, there are some discrepancies between the top 3 Bloomberg numbers and the ones we have. Who knows who’s wrong. Did we mention there will be suspense till the end?

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Blue adidas Blue adidas on Dec 03, 2010

    BMW and MB shouldn't worry about being 1st place in sales. Except for the LS (or the too bizarre to be relevant LFA) Lexus isn't even really a Luxury brand if you look closely at the Camry based crap that sits in the showroom. Let them have the title of first place. Mercedes, Audi, BMW and Infiniti own the title of making real luxury cars.

  • Bertel Schmitt Bertel Schmitt on Dec 04, 2010

    I can assure you after 30 years on the inside that at least German luxury makers took Lexus VERY seriously, that they were perturbed by the Lexus success in the U.S. and that they did everything to keep Lexus out of their home market.

    • Mike978 Mike978 on Dec 04, 2010

      Which they successfully did by building better cars. There are no tariffs or anything of that kind to keep Lexus out of Europe.

  • Steven Lang Steven Lang on Dec 04, 2010

    OK, we are getting dangerously close to the fanboy world here...

    I see all of these vehicles up close and in the flesh ever single week. What I can tell you is this...

    Each one provides an 'experience' that is completely different from the other. They all add value to the marketplace and I wouldn't discredit any vehicle for the little emblem on it. Mercedes, Lexus, Hyundai... none of it matters.

    The Germans had to adjust to the strong quality, cost and manufacturing prowess of Toyota. I would say, judging by what I see at the auctions, that they have largely achieved that goal. Mercedes and BMW's still wear a bit more than the Lexus models. But the former has improved considerably and the later has more of an 'enthusiast' demographic to consider. Lexus is a wonderful brand but the decontenting of the interiors is starting to hurt them a bit... as it hurt the German makes 10 to 15 years ago.

    Let's stop living in the luxury world of the past and instead, look at each of the specific models for their qualities. As for Rolexes, feel free to donate one to me if you like. I won't complain about the craftsmanship.

  • Brock_Landers Brock_Landers on Dec 06, 2010

    Lexus product mix is US market orientated. In Europe for Lexus it is impossible to compete with the Germans because of the narrow availability of different engine-, body and drivetrain options. In Europe Lexus is a niche luxury brand (execpt in the Baltics and Russia). I don't know if its intentional to keep the sales volumes low (not to compete with Toyota maybe) or poor leadership in Japan, but seems that Europe is not priority for Lexus. Good example is 3-series vs IS. IS has two engine/gearbox combination options - IS250 with automatic rwd or IS220d diesel manual rwd, available are sedan or convertible (conv has marginal sales volume compared to the sedan). 3-series in the other hand: sedan, wagon (!), coupe, convertible - engines - 316d, 318d, 320d, 325d, 330d, 335d, 316i, 318i, 320i, 325i, 330i, 335i. manual or automatic with any of the engines. rwd or awd selection with half of the engine choices. with the smaller engines bmw can offer very low spec car which is suitable for fleet sales. Lexus engine and equipment choices start from lot higher, hence zero fleet sales etc etc.

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