BMW retains the top spot in U.S. premium car sales in 2020. The Munich-based automaker finished ahead of Lexus and Mercedes-Benz. This is the second consecutive win by BMW who finished the year with 278,732 units sold, but down 18 percent from the previous year. Lexus sold 275,041 cars – down 7.7 percent – while Mercedes finished with 274,916 units – down 13 percent.

The Bavarians reported a strong fourth quarter in the United States which helped crossed the line first. BMW sold 98,750 cars and sport-utility vehicles in the last three months of 2020. Lexus was short 5,796 cars while Mercedes was a bit further back – 20,672 less cars.

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BMW’s fourth quarter sales were just 2 percent lower than the year before, thanks to an impressive rebound after the COVID-19 rules were relaxed. BMW’s top selling cars came from the X family, including the high-end X7 seven-seater SUV. Q2 and Q3 were especially difficult for all automakers, including BMW, who had their production on hold due to factory closures.

Mercedes-Benz’s SUV lineup was also strong in the United States. Nearly 65 percent of the total sales for the year were attributed to the SUV family.

Fourth place in the U.S. went to Audi with 186,620 sales, followed by Cadillac at 129,495 units sold in 2020. Volvo and Lincoln were next in the rankings with 110,129 sales and 105,410, respectively. As an interesting tidbit, Volvo was the only premium brand to show gains in 2020 – 1.8 percent over the previous year.