The luxury car sales race in the United States in 2012 was won by BMW, with Mercedes second and Toyota Motor Corp.'s (NYSE: TM) Lexus in third. The two American luxury brands, Ford Motor Co.'s (NYSE: F) Lincoln and General Motors Co.'s (NYSE: GM) Cadillac, did not make much of a showing.

According to Bloomberg:

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)'s BMW sales surged 39 percent in the U.S. in December to top Daimler AG (DAI)'s Mercedes-Benz in luxury-auto deliveries for the year as U.S. light-vehicle sales reached the highest level since 2007. Enlarge image BMW Overtakes Mercedes With U.S. Auto Sales Best Since '07.

With a 72 percent increase in 5 Series deliveries last month, Munich-based BMW boosted its annual total by 14 percent to a record 281,460, edging out Mercedes for a second straight year.