BMW AG more than doubled its U.S. sales lead over Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz in June with a strong performance from its fresher line of SUVs.
Deliveries jumped 7.5 percent last month to 31,627, paced by the diminutive X3 crossover and the larger X7 crossover, BMW said in a statement. While BMW sales dipped 1.1 percent at the half-year mark, the brand built a lead over Mercedes of more than 9,000 units.
Sales for Mercedes, which held the luxury crown the past three years, were little changed in June from a year ago at 26,196 units, leaving the Daimler division down 7.2% in the first half. Deliveries plunged more than 30% for both the C-Class sedan and GLS crossover.
Tesla Inc. could also figure as a luxury sales leader, but it does not break out its results on a monthly basis. For the quarter, Tesla said it delivered 95,200 vehicles globally, a new quarterly record for the automaker that more than doubled the 40,740 deliveries it reported during the same three months of 2018.
