All About Japan Autos

For years, Lexus has been the undisputed sales king of the U.S. luxury car market. However, with high-profile recalls, sales have slipped — and several other companies are making a play for the luxury market throne.

Bloomberg reports, “After 10 years on top in the U.S., Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus risks relinquishing its best-seller status among luxury brands to Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz.” They add, “The Lexus brand, a benchmark for quality in the 1990s and 2000s, has been marred by record recalls this year for flaws across its lineup. Problems including fuel leaks, engines that may stall and vehicles at risk of rolling over during emergency driving maneuvers surfaced after Toyota had already recalled more than 8 million vehicles under its main brand for defects linked to unintended acceleration.”

“Lexus has managed to sell 107,430 cars in the U.S. so far in 2010 — compared to a nail-bitingly close 106,972 vehicles by its next biggest rival, Mercedes-Benz. As if that wasn’t enough for Lexus to worry about, BMW has managed to sell 100,632 cars in the U.S. through June, 2010,” writes Left Lane News. Still, they point out, “Although trends may show Mercedes-Benz in a strong position to overtake Lexus by the end of 2010, let it not be forgotten that BMW held a 3,500 unit lead over Lexus during the first half of 2009, but later allowed Lexus to regain the lead by a solid 20,000 units sold.”

That said, Autoblog thinks that “unless Lexus cleans up its act quickly and manages to convince customers that its quality problems are behind it, Toyota’s premium brand could fall behind both German brands.”

If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.