Mercedes-Benz outran its rivals in the luxury segment in September in the United States. The demand for the SUVs and the crossovers gave a helping hand for the sales performance.

Daimler AG reported 29,500 vehicles sold last month, up 1.7 percent from last year. Lexus announced sales rising by 2% to 25,801 and BMW posted a 4.6% decline, down to 25,389.

As holder of the annual luxury-sales crown for the past two years and trying to benefit from an aggressive advertising campaign, BMW increased incentive spending 44 percent from a year earlier to an average $6,732 a vehicle while Daimler’s was down 9.3% to $4,342.

Mercedes-Benz volume leaders in September included the C-Class, GLC and E-Class (including the CLS) model lines. The C-Class took the lead at 6,600, followed by the GLC at 4,873. The E-Class also jumped on the podium, with 4,824 units sold.

Fuel economy, luxurious interiors and 4-wheel drive. These are the features attracting customers like a magnet.

“Aging millennials are finally forming households and having kids,” Krebs said. “They’ve been fueling the market for compact and now mid-size SUVs, and we know they aspire to luxury”, says Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst at AutoTrader.

The results record by Mercedes-Benz in September included a more than double figure of sales for the GLC.

Mercedes-AMG high-performance branch sold 1,511 cars in September, with a total of 15,642 units sold year-to-date (up 53.1 %).

Through three quarters of 2016, Mercedes went as far as 249,204 cars sold in the US, followed by Lexus at 236,193 and BMW at 230,133. The sales figures do not include the non-luxury vehicles like Mini or smart.