With only two months left in 2014, BMW and Mercedes are neck-and-neck in the race to the U.S. luxury sales title, with just more than 5,000 vehicles separating the two, Automotive News reports. In October, both German brands joined Audi and Lexus by celebrating milestones on the U.S. market. According to industry analysts, the race may decided by who offers the right incentives in the final days of 2014.

BMW’s best October

BMW U.S.A. reported its best October in history with 30,602 vehicles sold in the States. That figure represented an 11% gain year-over-year, while the brand’s 2014 total is also performing 12% better than it did the first 10 months of 2013. Ludwig Willisch, CEO of BMW North America, saw the market debuts as a factor fueling the brand’s growth.

“Our new models, especially the 2 and 4 Series, are giving BMW a great boost as we head into the final two months of the year,” Willisch said in a company statement, adding that he was “very pleased to see our born-electric BMW i3 doing so well.” The i3 made its way into the top five of electric vehicle sales in the United States, but it was the 7 series sedans (1,680 units sold) and the hot-selling X5 (3,355 units) that did major damage. Overall, BMW managed to outshine what was an impressive month for Mercedes.

Best of 2014 for Mercedes

The Mercedes-Benz press team had plenty to trumpet once the October sales stats emerged. From its AMG performance line to its S-Class land boats, the growth contributed to the best month of 2014 for the luxury brand. It may take only the right blend of incentives and clever marketing to beat BMW before the year is over.

Pricey AMG vehicles sold 72% better in October than they did the previous year, while S-Class sedans jumped 39% year-over-year with 2,666 units sold in October. M-Class SUVs (up 22%) joined the C-Class (up 13%) in offering the brand an even bigger boost. That performance puts Mercedes within 5,389 vehicles of BMW for 2014 sales, which makes for an interesting duel over the last two months of the year. Mercedes has sold 261,804 vehicles to U.S. consumers on the year.

Lexus and Audi still strong

Not far is Toyota’s Lexus division, which has marked 244,038 vehicles sold through October 2014 and is up 14% over the same period, though it gained just 3% year-over-year in October. BMW and Mercedes-Benz’s national rival, Volkswagen’s Audi division, showed yet another month of gains with a 17% rise in October sales, which made for 46 consecutive months of growth.

Overall, the U.S. luxury market is booming for the the foreign superpowers, while Cadillac has seen better days. The General Motors luxury brand posted its third-worst month of 2014 with 13,615 cars sold. That represented a drop of 8% compared to October 2013 in what will surely be a down year for Cadillac.