BMW Could Be #1 In US Sales

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. -- Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is on pace to pass Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus as the best-selling luxury automobile brand in the U.S. this year, helped by new models such as the redesigned 7 Series sedans.

For the first four months, the German automaker pulled ahead of Lexus, with 78,386 cars and light trucks to 75,164. The Toyota brand has led U.S. luxury sales the past two years. BMW has never been the annual leader.

BMW in recent years has "introduced lots of new models, staggered over time, and kept their lineup new," said Alan Baum, an analyst at Farmington Hills, Michigan-based automotive forecasting firm Planning Edge. "They've been impressive."

Gains of 55 percent for the 7 Series cars that debuted in the U.S. this year and 14 percent for the X-5 sport-utility vehicle introduced last year have helped BMW. That builds on an expansion that doubled BMW sales in the five years through 2001 to 213,127 vehicles. Its growth has been twice the luxury-brand average for the past three years, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank.

The U.S. increases are contributing to the Munich-based automaker's expectations that it will sell more than 1 million vehicles this year and exceed 2001's record profit and sales.

"We're working flat out in most of our plants," BMW North America Chief Executive Officer Tom Purves said in an interview. "We're ahead of our own plans this year and if we keep running at this pace we'll probably ask for more cars from other markets."

Bloomberg has reported that BMW has taken the U.S. lead even as Lexus sales rose 6.9 percent through April from the year-ago period. DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz, which BMW passed last year to move up to second, has increased 8 percent to 68,694 cars and light trucks.

"It's a horse race, and we're monitoring the market closely," said Julie Alfonso, a spokeswoman for Torrance, California-based Lexus. "The ES (300) is the best-selling luxury sedan in the U.S. through April, and we're pleased with Lexus's sales increase so far this year."

New Mercedes E-Class sedans this fall may tighten the race among BMW, Lexus and the DaimlerChrysler unit, said Wes Brown, an analyst at Thousand Oaks, California-based Nextrend, which studies consumer trends for auto companies.

"It could really come down to the wire," he said.

European and Asian makers of luxury vehicles have used a combination of new sport-utility vehicles and updated versions of existing cars to take market share from General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac and Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln.

Since 1998, Lexus, Mercedes and BMW have moved ahead of the U.S. rivals. In that period, Cadillac and Lincoln's combined share of U.S. luxury-vehicle sales slid to 19.3 percent from 29.8 percent, according to Ward's. This year through April, Cadillac sales rose 9.8 percent to 54,776, while Lincoln fell 15 percent to 45,178.

BMW in March also added the Mini small car in the U.S. and sold 2,346 in the first two months. Even without the Mini, which the automaker lists as a separate brand, BMW has pulled ahead of Lexus. The company's U.S. unit is based in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.