Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – October 2013

With a still fresh sedan, a brand new coupe, and wagons and convertible availability as well, the BMW 3-Series lineup is selling really rather well. BMW, presumably for consistency’s sake, is currently including sales of the 4-Series in the 3-Series’ total.

In all, multiple bodystyles combined for 11,715 sales in October, 42% of BMW USA’s volume. 3-Series/4-Series sales were 79% stronger than sales of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the second-ranked premium brand car in October.

In between, sales of the Lexus RX jumped 15% to 7979 units. The RX sold 42% more often than the second-ranked luxury utility vehicle from Acura, the more costly MDX.

• All Vehicles Ranked By October 2013 & YTD U.S. Sales

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As America’s new vehicle market grew 10.4% in October, Acura, Audi, Bentley, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche grew at an above-average pace. Together with BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti, Volvo and a handful of sales from Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, and Rolls-Royce, and excluding the Sprinter van, these premium brands accounted for 12.7% of the new vehicles sold in the United States in October 2013.

Their 15 best-selling vehicles, listed below, were responsible for 52% of their October sales.

Historical monthly and yearly sales figures for any of these models can always be accessed through the dropdown menu at GCBC’s Sales Stats page, and for those not viewing the mobile version of this site, near the top right of this page, as well. The + icon has been removed from year-over-year improvements. Look instead for red font to designate year-over-year declines. We’ve also added prior year data, so you’ll spend less time hunting around GCBC for historical figures.

October 2014 • November 2013 • September 2013 • October 2012

Rank	Luxury Vehicle	October 2013	October 2012	% Change	2013 YTD	2012 YTD	% Change
#1	BMW 3-Series & 4-Series *	11,715	9729	20.4%	89,636	78,081	14.8%
#2	Lexus RX	7979	6928	15.2%	81,258	73,976	9.8%
#3	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	6548	7636	– 14.2%	73,144	65,376	11.9%
#4	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	6456	5265	22.6%	52,462	50,061	4.8%
#5	Lexus ES	5997	5971	0.4%	58,073	42,105	37.9%
#6	Acura MDX	5608	3771	48.7%	40,411	42,417	– 4.7%
#7	Cadillac SRX	5373	5521	– 2.7%	45,879	45,745	0.3%
#8	BMW 5-Series	5020	4228	18.7%	43,701	42,556	2.7%
#9	Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class	4895	—	—	7205	—	—
#10	Lexus IS	3570	2116	68.7%	25,630	23,223	10.4%
#15	Audi A4 *	3477	3151	10.3%	34,590	31,381	10.2%
#11	Audi Q5	3380	2424	39.4%	31,979	22,321	43.3%
#12	Acura RDX	3333	2659	25.3%	36,872	22,460	64.2%
#13	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	3113	2868	8.5%	32,513	29,966	8.5%
#14	BMW X1	3059	1907	60.4%	21,407	4053	428%

For the purposes of the above list, premium brands include Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Volvo. Brands like Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Lotus don’t report specific monthly sales data. Bentley and Maserati only report brand totals. Buick has been excluded with a bunch of other automakers that don’t sell vehicles with base prices higher than $40K.
* A4 sales include the Allroad.

Rank	Vehicles With Base Prices Above $45K	October 2013	October 2012	% Change	2013 YTD	2012 YTD	% Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	6456	5265	22.6%	52,462	50,061	4.8%
#2	Chevrolet Suburban	5648	3595	57.1%	40,228	37,455	7.4%
#3	BMW 5-Series	5020	4228	18.7%	43,701	42,556	2.7%
#4	Chevrolet Corvette	3929	1167	237%	11,759	11,737	0.2%
#5	GMC Yukon XL	3489	2295	52.0%	25,435	17,963	41.6%
#6	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	3113	2868	8.5%	32,513	29,966	8.5%
#7	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	2565	2296	11.7%	24,747	19,854	24.6%
#8	BMW X5	2140	4240	– 49.5%	33,439	33,922	– 1.4%
#9	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	1914	1096	74.6%	9539	9310	2.5%
#15	Cadillac Escalade & ESV/EXT	1814	1832	– 1.0%	18,357	18,269	0.5%
#10	Porsche Cayenne	1669	1697	– 1.6%	15,582	12,031	29.5%
#11	Lexus GX460	1498	909	64.8%	8603	8629	– 0.3%
#12	Audi Q7	1403	1012	38.6%	12,175	8354	45.7%
#13	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	1266	1391	– 9.0%	12,250	12,854	– 4.7%
#14	Land Rover Range Rover	1184	403	194%	9589	6457	48.5%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales
$45,000 USD (before delivery) is an arbitrary borderline, but if GCBC was to follow this system of designating only expensive vehicles as luxury vehicles, adding approximately $15,000 to the average new car transaction price seemed like a fitting place to begin. Plenty of less expensive vehicles with specific models feature prices above $45,000 – M, RS, and AMG models come to mind, specifically – but in the case of the second list, we know that none of the registrations were of cars priced at $32,550, as would be the case with the new BMW 320i, which costs less than a Honda Accord V6 Touring. The biggest problem with a $45,000 minimum price of entry? Cars like the Cadillac XTS, which starts at $44,600. Of note, Cadillac’s 2014 CTS starts at $45,100, but the continuing CTS coupe (which gets included by GM in CTS sales figures) starts below $40,000.
Total Infiniti G/Q50/Q60 volume hit 4683 units in October, up 36.2%, and 43,686 units through ten months, down 11.7%.
* BMW is currently not separating sales of the 3-Series and 4-Series.