Lexus took the U.S. luxury sales title for the second straight month in August by a wide margin over BMW and Mercedes-Benz after the Toyota Motor luxury brand posted a 4.6 percent boost in deliveries to 29,931 vehicles.
BMW finished a distant second, with sales rising 7.2 percent to 25,505 vehicles, while Mercedes said deliveries surged 22 percent to 24,771.
Lexus was paced by sales of the RX midsize crossover, which rose 7.6 percent to 11,700 vehicles, and the new UX small crossover, which recorded 1,629 sales. Those gains helped offset a 5.7 percent drop in Lexus car sales.
BMW's month was dominated by a 103 percent gain for the X5 midsize crossover to 4,522 sales. The new X7 large crossover generated 1,741 deliveries.
Mercedes said two of its crossovers surged during the month. The GLC compact increased sales 29 percent to 6,336 vehicles while the GLE midsize saw a 48 percent boost to 5,370 vehicles.
BMW continues to lead the year-to-date U.S. luxury race, with eight-month sales rising 2.9 percent to 204,960 deliveries. Mercedes sales for the year are down 1.2 percent to 196,779. Lexus is up 0.9 percent to 190,691.
The figures exclude sales of Mercedes Sprinter vans and BMW's Mini brand.
