BMW overtakes Lexus as best-selling luxury brand in 2009

BMW, the makers of the ‘Ultimate Driving Machines,’ has over taken Toyota’s Lexus brand to become the best-selling luxury marquee in the U.S. so far this year. According to Autodata Corp., Lexus has held the title since 2000, but sales are now down 37.2 percent.

BMW, which hasn’t held the No.1 title in the U.S. since 1997, also beat German rival Mercedes-Benz. While BMW sales are also down 30.5 percent, it sold more units than Lexus coming in with a total of 76,819 through the month of May. Lexus sold 73,186.

Nonetheless, luxury automakers still have many months to go before the year is over. Lexus has just rolled out its new 2010 RX 350 SUV and is also looking to introduce its first dedicated hybrid model, the HS 250h, by the end of the summer.

Oh, and Volkswagen-owned Bentley and Daimler’s Maybach - your uber-luxury brands - are down 60 percent so far this year. Maybach sold only three vehicles in May.

 

Source: Detroit News

BMW Z4 The Old And New

Even though the new BMW Z4 has been widely accepted and embraced by the BMW crowd, the older model E85 still remains in everyone’s hearts. The last Z4 Roadster built in the U.S. rolled off the production line back in August 2008 and new Z4 production moved over to Europe, more specifically at the Regensburg plant in Austria.

There were a little more than 9,300 Z4s built last year at Spartanburg and over the seven years production, but the Z4 lines will be replaced by the new X3, due to launch in 2010. The older and fist BMW Z4 was a drastically more modern car than the Z3 it replaced, with an increased overall size and more mature design.

And while we initially believed that the first generation Z4 will look really outdated when placed side-by-side with the new E89 Z4, we were wrong this time. Looking at the photos below, we can still see a fresh, modern design on the “old” Z4 and in our opinion, still very appealing.

Now don’t get us wrong, the 2009 BMW Z4 is a beauty and the new roadster has impressed us from the first moment we laid eyes on it at the Detroit Auto Show. The E89 roadster has brought one of the best interior designs to date in a BMW and at the same time, a highly-acclaimed new design lines, the work of team formed only of females.

And the same as with the Z3 and the first Z4, the 2009 Roadster has grown in size and matured even more, putting its competitors on the spot and claiming the crown in the roadster segment. So, let’s enjoy the photos below, the great work of 2002ti, member of garaget.org.

[Source: More photos at garaget.org ]