In one of the industry’s most closely watched head-to-head – or perhaps grille-to-grille – match ups, Ford Mustang buried archrival Chevrolet Camaro during 2015. Camaro bested Mustang in sales in 2014.
But thanks to a 48% surge in sales in 2015, the new Mustang, which debuted at the end of 2015, easily surpassed its traditional rival by posting sales of 122,345 units, while Camaro lost traction and saw its sales decline by 10% to 77,502 despite making news all year long.
Even the arrival of the new Camaro at the end of the year didn’t help matters much as Camaro sales dropped 19% in December while Mustang sales dropped by 8% and helped the Ford brand hang on in a tough market for passenger with a miniscule loss of sales. Chevrolet, however, saw much larger losses on the passenger car side.
The Mustang versus Camaro rivalry, however, wasn’t the only one settled with the final sales numbers.
(December sales soar – but VW gets left behind. For more, Click Here.)
BMW won the luxury vehicle sales crown in the U.S. as it eked out a victory over its two closest rivals Lexus and Mercedes-Benz. Audi was a distant fourth despite its record sales of more than 200,000 units.
Sales of BMW brand vehicles in December totaled 34,625 compared to 41,526 vehicles sold in December 2014. For the year, BMW brand is up 1.8% on sales of 346,023 compared to 339,738 from last year, breaking the brand’s all-time sales record set in 2014.
“The new sales record in 2015 is the third record year in a row for BMW with the numbers further emphasizing the growth of luxury trucks, which are now one-third of BMW sales in the U.S.” said Ludwig Willisch, president and CEO, BMW of North America.
(Click Here for details about the leaked photos of Mercedes new E-Class.)
“I fully expect our Sports Activity Vehicles to be the key driver of growth in the new year with both demand and availability increasing. As the maker of the Ultimate Driving Machine, the record sales of our high-performance BMW M brand in the U.S. is especially satisfying and we’re looking forward to the new M4 GTS and the all-new M2 coming this year,” he said.
Lexus, meanwhile, finished the year just ahead of Mercedes with total sales of 344,601 units, which was up 10.7% over last year. The brand was led by, not surprisingly, by its SUV sales: up 26.5% for 2015.
“December closed out an all-time, best-ever year with sales we couldn’t have predicted,” said Jeff Bracken, group vice president and general manager for the Lexus division. “Lexus’ SUV sales momentum and the strength of our product lineup has us well positioned for 2016.”
For the year, the Mercedes-Benz brand was led by the C-Class, M/GLE-Class and E-Class model lines finished 2015 with total sales of 343,088 units. Sales by commercially oriented Mercedes-Benz Vans also had a good year, increasing 16% to 29,889.
(To see more about VW’s boss discussing the automaker’s diesel fix plans, Click Here.)
Mercedes AMG high-performance models posted a 150.2% monthly sales increase to 2,807 units in December, while year-over-year sales climbed 54.4% to 17,456. Sales of Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC diesel models recorded 621 for the month and 11,057 for the year.
whoever is writing these stories are full of shit. I worked at the Lansing plant making Camaros and they are running non-stop to make new Camaros.
I see Mustangs sometimes on the road,they look like shit
Last year I worked at two Ford plants, one Toyota, and four GM plants. I think I know what is going on. Plus I have friends at the Mustang plant in Dearborn, and Flatrock.