Mercedes SUVs Help Increase U.S. Sales Lead Over Lexus, BMW

Mercedes-Benz outsold its high-end auto competitors in the United States in May, constructing its lead in a down month apparently due to ongoing need for its sport utility cars.

Deliveries moved 1 percent from a year earlier to 29,299, the Daimler AG system stated in a statement Wednesday. Mercedes published a 64 percent advantage for its GLC and GLK SUVs. Both of its major competitors reported wider declines for the month, with BMW AG’s down 6.4 percent to 29,017 and Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus down 10 percent to 26,682.

The luxury brand names slowed in addition to the industry as a whole in May, which had 2 fewer sales days than the year-earlier month. The results add to issue that automakers may be unable to keep the record sales speed of 2015. Premium brands, like their mass-market counterparts, have actually been taking advantage of easily offered credit, inexpensive gas.

SUV sales remain a bright spot for Mercedes and Lexus as consumers move far from cars to the roomier and progressively fuel-efficient automobiles. Mercedes’s GL and GLS line posted a 45 percent boost in May. Lexus reported a 3.4 percent increase for its SUVs, paced by a 10 percent gain for the redesigned RX. Purchases of BMW’s sport utility vehicles dropped 6 percent.