Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Thursday, Oct. 9.
BMW regained the top spot in third-quarter luxury sales, outperforming its Japanese rival Lexus by 5,277 vehicles in the period. Deliveries totaled 96,886 vehicles. Both companies are expecting to set sales records this year.
"Tortoise and the hare, BMW and Lexus are on very different paths to success," Edmunds Insights Director Ivan Drury told our Urvaksh Karkaria.
BMW began registering 2026 model-year sales in April, while Lexus has only recently started moving next year's model, Drury said. Thus, according to Edmunds data, 2026 models made up 51 percent of BMW's third-quarter deliveries, but only 4.8 percent of Lexus' sales.
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On the flip side, Lexus dealers turned inventory much faster in the quarter, with BMW dealers taking an average of 46 days to sell a vehicle, while Lexus retailers sold their supply in just 22 days, the quickest among all luxury brands, according to Edmunds.
BMW's third-quarter sales surged 25 percent from a year ago, even with a significant recall and stop-sale involving 278,000 vehicles due to a faulty brake module.
Mercedes-Benz finished third, with Audi and Cadillac rounding out the top five.
Overall, U.S. luxury vehicle sales grew 4.5 percent last quarter, compared with a 5.6 percent increase for the overall market, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.
Meanwhile, Ferrari's first full-electric car, the Elettrica, will have four doors, four electric motors, nearly 1,000 hp and a 330-plus mile range. Ferrari unveiled technical specifications and showed a production-ready chassis on Oct. 8 at its Maranello, Italy, headquarters. The car's design will be revealed next spring. The interior and exterior styling was developed in cooperation with Lovefrom, a company founded by Jony Ive, the former Apple chief designer.
In other EV news, General Motors showed its new Chevrolet Bolt, starting at $29,990 including a $1,395 delivery fee for the LT. Later in the model year, a less expensive LT will be available starting at $28,995 including a $1,395 delivery fee.
With a GM-estimated 255 miles of range, the Bolt will offer the most range in a sub-$30,000 EV, according to GM. It begins shipping to customers early next year.
Two more stories for you to check out: GM China sales climb for the third straight quarter, and automakers are continuing to diversify their dealer networks even amid attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
That's it for today. Have a great rest of your day.
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— Wes Raynal, assistant web editor
