This has been a challenging year for the luxury automobile industry in the US, which is still struggling with recession. In the race to this year's top selling car, the US Luxury Auto Sales Report narrowed the list to Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's BMW line over Toyota Motor's Lexus.

A 17 per cent rise in sales of sports utility vehicles and Mercedes brand cars has propelled a three-month winning streak for BMW and halved Lexus' lead for the year. Last month, Lexus reported a 6 per cent decline in sales, as a 21 per cent gain for the ES model was offset by a 27 per cent decline in IS deliveries.

"Lexus has been by far the luxury leader in this market and now Mercedes and BMW have closed that gap pretty rapidly," an industry analyst was quoted as saying. "The sales race will come down to the wire - it will come down right to the month of December."

With the global stock market more stable and secure, consumers are returning and getting back into the luxury automobile section. As per company stated results, BMW's sales in June, July and August topped that of other luxury brands like Lexus. In fact, the company's September sales recorded a 21 per cent rise in deliveries.

Apart from this, luxury auto brands like General Motors' luxury model Cadillac; Honda Motor's Acura; Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG's Audi brand also reported rise in sales from a year earlier.

"Lexus has been by far the luxury leader in this market and now Mercedes and BMW have closed that gap pretty rapidly," Joe Barker, an industry analyst with IHS Automotive, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based researcher, said before the release. "The sales race will come down to the wire - it will come down right to the month of December."