Lexus Fights ‘House on Fire’ as BMW Steals Decade-Long U.S. Lead

Lexus is poised to lose its lead in the U.S. for the first time in more than a decade, with BMW and Mercedes-Benz snaring customers just as the Toyota Motor Corp. luxury brand struggles to recover from the Japanese earthquake.

Lexus has trailed Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Daimler AG’s Mercedes for four straight months after clinging to last year’s lead by 9,216 cars. The drop for Lexus, which makes all but one model in Japan, has intensified since the earthquake disrupted supplies, temporarily reducing production by 50 percent.