Lexus Off to Races in the First Quarter

The nation’s seemingly supercharged economy has been good to car makers and very good to their luxury-vehicle units. And it was especially good to Lexus, Toyota’s high-end marque, in the first quarter of 1999.

Coming off a year in which it posted a 60% U.S. sales increase, Torrance-based Lexus ended the first quarter with a 42.5% hike in sales.

The gain was driven by the division’s two hot-selling sport-utility models. Lexus’ non-SUV sales, in fact, fell 13% in the first quarter after rising 13% for all of last year.

Lexus sold 41,316 cars and SUVs in the quarter, taking the luxury lead away from Mercedes-Benz, which sold 40,536 vehicles. Ford’s Lincoln division was third with 36,985, followed by Cadillac at 36,284 and BMW at 35,808.