With sales hubs such New York City and Los Angeles essentially under lockdown since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic, luxury brands took it squarely on the jaw in the first quarter.
U.S. luxury sales tumbled 13 percent, vs. a 12 percent decline for the overall market, according to the Automotive News Data Center.
The pain continued into April. Premium brands' market share for the week ending Sunday, April 5, was 11.7 percent, the lowest since August 2013, according to J.D. Power.
The year started strong for luxury brands, with sales up 7 percent through February, compared with a 0.5 percent gain for the rest of the industry, said Tyson Jominy, vice president of the Power Information Network at J.D. Power. But over the last weekend of March, premium sales were off 74 percent.
Stock market volatility in the wake of the pandemic took its toll. Mercedes-Benz and BMW clientele typically are heavily invested in the stock market, said Sam Fiorani, vice president at AutoForecast Solutions.
"A 10 percent or 15 percent drop in the Dow is like Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow on Groundhog Day," he said. "It will scare those dollar bills right back into their wallet."
Mercedes got off to an early lead over rival BMW in the 2020 U.S. luxury sales race.
Mercedes delivered 67,746 vehicles, excluding commercial vans, in the first quarter, down 4.8 percent from a year ago. Volume leaders included the GLC, GLE and E-Class.
BMW, meanwhile, sold 59,455 vehicles in the U.S., down 15 percent from the same period a year ago. The 3 Series, redesigned for the 2019 model year, saw a 30 percent sales surge to 10,613.
Lexus' U.S. sales fell 16 percent in the first quarter to 56,345. Tesla deliveries fell an estimated 5.4 percent to 52,800; Audi rounded out the top five with 41,367 sales, down 14 percent from a year earlier.
Lincoln was the only premium brand that ended the quarter in positive territory, up 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, Jaguar had the largest estimated year-over-year decline, 29 percent.
