U.S. luxury car sales 2021

In 2021, BMW was the leading luxury car brand in the United States, recording sales of over 336,600 units. It was followed closely by its main competitor Tesla, which climbed up in the ranking during 2021, recording estimated sales of over 313,400 vehicles.

The U.S. luxury market

Luxury cars represented an estimated five billion dollars in revenue in the U.S. in 2021, with a projected growth in 2022. The U.S. were the leading market for luxury automobiles worldwide, with a market size over threefold the revenues generated by the luxury car market in Germany, the second largest market for the segment. Despite the revenues generated by the luxury market, the U.S. represented less than a quarter of BMW’s regional automobile sales in 2020, while the brand was the market leader in the country. The luxury car segment also made up some 4.5 percent of the total U.S. light vehicle market demand as of June 2021, dwarfed by the crossover segment which held almost half of the market.

Car owners view luxury brands positively

Luxury automotive brands are amongst the automotive brands perceived as most reliable by car owners. At 71 percent, Toyota’s subsidiary Lexus was the third most reliable car brand for car owners in late 2020. Lexus was also second in overall consumer satisfaction a year later, followed by luxury car sales leader BMW, and with Audi and Mercedes-Benz close behind. However, the importance of buying luxury cars, motorcycles, or bicycles in the U.S. was relatively low, with 17 percent of the respondents in a recent survey citing the products as a type of luxury goods they spent their earnings on.