Early in January, the final sales numbers for 2012 came out, and the results showed that BMW had the highest sales in the luxury automotive sector. However, Mercedes recently argued that their numbers actually put the brand ahead of BMW.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Mercedes was actually in the lead right up until the end of 2012, when BMW got a 45 percent sales boost in November, narrowing the gap between the two German automakers' numbers. By the end of the year, BMW climbed just a bit higher than Mercedes, selling 347,583 vehicles over the year including MINI sales. Mercedes' tally came in at 305,072 units in the U.S., The New York Times reports.

When looking at new vehicle registrations, however, Mercedes-Benz claims it has earned the title of best-selling luxury nameplate in the U.S., AutoBlog indicates. Registration data provided by Polk shows that Mercedes posted 274,123 registrations, while there were only 268,498 BMW registrations in 2012. Steve Cannon, chief of Mercedes-Benz North America, explained at a monthly Motor Press Association meeting that the discrepancies between the sales and registration numbers are vastly different for the two companies – Mercedes' numbers were only off by 11, while BMW's numbers were separated by about 13,000.

Official data has not yet been released, so the jury is still out about which of these two luxury car providers is the real top dog of 2012.

While the automakers duke it out, drivers looking to get behind the wheel of used cars can head over to New Jersey State Auto Auction to find the luxury ride they've been dreaming of. The dealership has a wide selection of makes and models, whether drivers are looking for a BMW 3 Series or they would prefer a Mercedes SUV.