Last year BMW lost its position as the number one selling luxury brand in the USA to Mercedes. BMW was hell bent on regaining that crown and is on pace to do just that. Forbes is reporting via TREFIS that BMW has taken a lead in the luxury market stateside and is poised to hold off the competition due to its current lead and future product launches.

BMW has posted a 25.5% increase in sales of sports utility vehicles through May and has sold 127,181 total units, up 12% year-over-year with Mercedes selling 125,118 units during the same period, up 6.5% from 2013 levels. Mercedes continues to reap the benefits of the smaller and cheaper CLA-Class launched last year, plus a boost from the the refreshes of the E and S-Class. The recent launch of the GLA small SUV and retooled C-Class has also been a shot in the arm on the sales floor. Through May, BMW had a 23.6% market share in the U.S. luxury segment, followed by Mercedes’ 23.2% and Lexus’ 21.4% share (together making up 68%).

BMW will launch the X4, X6, M3 and M4 as well as the tally sales of the i3 throughout the rest of the year which should just add to BMW’s market lead. Original reports indicated that BMW would bring the lower cost front wheel drive 2 Series Active Tourer stateside late this year as a final push to closing out the year to pad to the year’s tally. There are some sources saying that this will not occur but if it does we expect a significant uptick at year end as the manufacturer counts its total sales for the year.

At nearly the mid point of the year it looks like BMW is on pace to regain the sales title in the US, but a lot can change in 6 months.