Mercedes Beats BMW’s April Sales by 410 Units

With 410 units sold separating the two, Mercedes-Benz edges BMW by a hair in the April luxury light-vehicle sales race.

Mercedes delivered 23,635 units, up 1.6% from April 2012, while BMW sold 23,225, up 5.9% from last year. Neither tally included Mercedes’ Sprinter van and Smart microcar, or BMW’s Mini brand.

Lexus trailed its rivals with 18,091 sales, down 1.1% from year-ago.

The best-selling luxury car in April was the BMW 3-Series with 8,236 units, down 12.2% year-on-year, while the Lexus RX350 cross/utility vehicle was the best-selling luxury truck with 6,365.

Brisk sales of the RX350 weren’t enough for Lexus to win the truck race, however. The Toyota luxury marque sold a total of 8,059 units, but Mercedes again was the leader with 8,651, including 3,280 M-Class models. BMW reported 7,268, including 3,444 X5s.

Lexus truck sales were down 4.6% from year-ago, while BMW posted an 8.3% gain and Mercedes showed a 2.5% improvement over last year.

BMW delivered the most cars among the three, with the 3-Series accounting for more than half of its 15,957-unit total. Overall BMW car sales were up 4.8% from like-2012.

Mercedes’ C-Class, with 7,338 sales, accounted for almost exactly half of the brand’s 14,984-unit total last month. The auto maker’s year-over-year volume was up only a slim 1%.

Lexus delivered 10,032 cars in April, led by the ES350 sport sedan with 3,885 units. Overall Lexus car sales inched up 2% from like-2012.

Year-to-date, Mercedes recorded 92,822 LV deliveries, followed by BMW with 88,127 and Lexus with 74,831. BMW, however, achieved the highest year-over-year gain, up 5.9% for the first four months.

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