Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz posted their highest U.S. sales this year in July in a sign that the slump in luxury-auto demand is starting to abate.

Lexus deliveries dropped 17 percent to 18,517 vehicles, Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota said yesterday. Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler said sales of Mercedes-Benz autos fell 22 percent to 16,228.

The results suggest that even luxury brands whose models for the most part are ineligible for the government’s so-called cash-for-clunkers incentive benefited from July’s improved auto sales. The industry’s annual pace for the month was 11.2 million cars and light trucks, the highest of 2009, according to Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

“The luxury buyer is the buyer who most easily can defer purchases,” said Jim Hossack, an analyst at consulting firm AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, California. Recovering demand in that segment “says something very good about consumer confidence with respect to buying new cars.”

Luxury sales fell 27 percent in July from a year earlier for cars and 40 percent for sport-utility vehicles, according to industry researcher Autodata. Total U.S. auto sales declined 12 percent, the smallest drop since May 2008, the firm said.

‘Clunker Effect’

“The ‘clunker effect’ has skewed the market somewhat,” Hossack said.

In addition to fuel-economy standards ruling out some sports cars, the federal government’s program is limited to new autos with a retail price of $45,000 or less. That excludes many vehicles from the luxury brands.

For example, two of the four sedans from Lexus list retail prices for at least that amount, according to the company’s Web site. U.S. sales dropped 11 percent for Toyota, which has models including the Prius hybrid and Corolla small car that meet the terms of the federal Car Allowance Rebate System.

The declines for Lexus and Mercedes were smaller than in the year’s first half, when they plunged 34 percent and 29 percent, according to Autodata.

“Everyone’s just tired of saving and not spending,” said Stephanie Brinley, an automotive analyst with AutoPacific Inc. in Troy, Michigan. “While the economy isn’t improving, it’s not getting a lot worse at the moment.”

Lincoln, Infiniti

Ford Motor Co.’s luxury Lincoln brand decreased 24 percent to 6,672 vehicles, after tumbling 28 percent this year through June. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker reported an increase in total sales of 2.3 percent.

Infiniti, the luxury unit of Nissan Motor Co., declined 23 percent to 7,096 units, paring its 38 percent drop this year through June.

Honda Motor Co., which like Nissan is based in Tokyo, said its Acura brand fell 32 percent to 8,662 vehicles, compared with a 34 percent drop through June.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, which is based in Munich and is the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, said sales of its BMW-brand vehicles fell 32 percent to 16,381 vehicles. That was bigger than the 29 percent drop this year through June.

Audi, the luxury unit of Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen AG, said sales fell 5.8 percent to 6,407.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Ortolani in Southfield, Michigan, at aortolani1@bloomberg.net; Craig Trudell in Southfield, Michigan, at ctrudell@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 4, 2009 14:23 EDT