BMW AG topped its rival in the U.S. luxury auto market for the first time this year, eking out a monthly sales gain and gaining ground on Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz.
Deliveries of the X3 and X5 sport utility vehicles climbed 43 percent and 35 percent last month, respectively, pacing BMW's total sales of 31,015 vehicles. The Munich-based automaker outsold Mercedes by about 1,900 units in March.
As plummeting demand for passenger cars led most automakers to miss analysts' estimates last month, BMW managed to keep deliveries of its 3 Series and 5 Series models roughly flat compared with a year earlier. The victory in March pulled BMW to within 7,500 vehicle sales of Mercedes through the first three months of the year.