BMW fails to outpace Mercedes in U.S. sales

BMW brand deliveries rose 3.1 percent to 16,405 last month in the United States, the automaker said Wednesday in a statement.

Mercedes sales rose 24 percent to 20,306, as deliveries of its C-class model surged 56 percent, the automaker said.

Lexus brand deliveries declined 4.6 percent to 12,274 vehicles in January.

"BMW, perhaps, was a bit more aggressive in terms of marketing and incentive efforts in December which may have pulled ahead some of their sales from January," Jesse Toprak, an analyst with TrueCar.com, said in a telephone interview.