BMW's sales actually dropped 0.5 percent during July, but the luxury automaker's 21,297 sales outpaced Mercedes' 1.6 percent gain to 19,311 units. As a result, Mercedes now holds a slight 147,906 to 147,801 unit lead over BMW.
BMW expects its redesigned 3-Series to once again carry the company to a U.S. sales title, but current supplies of the car remain tight. Kenn Sparks, a BMW spokesman, told Bloomberg that the "change to model year 2013 happened this summer and the German factories had both the changeover and summer shutdowns to deal with, so supply is really tight right now." Production is expected to pick up later this year.
Former perennial best-seller Lexus remains well outside the sales race with just 126,367 deliveries through the first seven months of 2012.
