Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), buoyed by a new line of small cars, threatens to end the eight-year reign of Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus as the No. 1 US luxury brand. The German automaker's namesake brand topped Lexus in July for the third time in 2008. BMW, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, trails Lexus by 3,466 sales after 7 months, erasing 90 per cent of the gap from the start of the year.
The US debut of the 1-Series car in March bolstered BMW's offerings with a model that gets 28 miles per gallon on the highway, blunting the effect of record gasoline prices that are sapping sales of big sport-utility vehicles. Lexus has added only a sports car and an SUV with 400 horsepower, V-8 engines.
[bmwkick]
The US debut of the 1-Series car in March bolstered BMW's offerings with a model that gets 28 miles per gallon on the highway, blunting the effect of record gasoline prices that are sapping sales of big sport-utility vehicles. Lexus has added only a sports car and an SUV with 400 horsepower, V-8 engines.
[bmwkick]