BMW has been the luxury sales king in the U.S. for six years at this point, and it just extended that lead after a second quarter as its closest rivals stumbled. Deliveries rose 13% to 102,713 vehicles during the period thanks to the X3, X5 and — get this — 3 Series. All in all, the German automaker sold 186,944 vehicles in the first half of 2026 — up 4.7%.
Off in a very, very distant second place was Lexus with 88,760 sales — down 7.5%. Its first half total hit 169,712 units, a 5.2% decline. A lot of that can be attributed to the ES sedan’s redesign and new model ramp-up, but a loss is a loss no matter how you slice it. Following the first quarter, BMW’s lead over Lexus was fewer than 3,300 vehicles, but it’s now over 17,000. Mercedes-Benz was also nowhere near its cross-country rivals, coming in third place with an estimated 75,000 quarterly sales. It also sold an estimated 145,000 passenger vehicles in the first half — down 3.5%. From Automotive News:
Volvo’s second-quarter U.S. sales rose 9 percent to 34,228, snapping a streak of three quarterly declines. The Swedish automaker saw double-digit growth in mild hybrid sales, but electric vehicle volumes declined by 45 percent.
“The overall market still remains impacted by low customer sentiment, increased competition in the SUV segment and a slower than expected recovery in sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars post subsidy removal,” Volvo said in a statement.
Genesis sales rose 4.6 percent to 20,771.
That number should be higher, dammit.
It was a weaker second quarter for other luxury brands.
Sales fell 0.7 percent to 37,362 at Acura, 19 percent to 35,825 at Cadillac; 16 percent to 26,389 at Lincoln and 0.2 percent to 12,298 at Infiniti.
Porsche’s U.S. sales fell 17 percent in the second quarter to 16,495. The only model to post a gain was the venerable 911 sports car, with sales up 39 percent to 4,652.
The German brand said overall volume was negatively impacted by portfolio changes, namely the end of 718 output and lower EV deliveries.
Porsche’s first-half U.S. sales dropped 15 percent to 33,012.
Second-quarter volume fell by an estimated 28 percent to 24,400 at JLR.
Audi reports second-quarter sales later in July.
Shockingly, BMW has seen really strong demand for the 3 Series despite the fact it’s very near the end of its current lifecycle. A big part of that is because so many 3 Series rivals have simply gone away. Another part is, despite its age, a basic 3 Series is still a great car and a relatively affordable option in the grand scheme of the luxury market.
