Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada – 2013 Year End

There’s a number of differences between the list you’ll see here of Canada’s 15 best-selling luxury vehicles in 2013 and the U.S. version of the same. But there’s one difference that really stands out: the presence of a Lincoln.

Ford’s premium division suffered from a 5% drop in Canadian sales in 2013 and a slim 0.6% decline in the U.S. But in Canada, Lincoln’s small output is MKX-centric. 56% of Lincoln’s Canadian sales in 2013 were derived from the Edge-based MKX.

• All 257 Vehicles Ranked By 2013 Canadian Sales

Click Chart To Expand

There’s an Infiniti on the U.S. version of this list, but none here. And while SUVs and crossovers make up seven of America’s 15 best-selling luxury vehicle nameplates, they account for ten of the top 15 in Canada, MKX included.

Look for the new MKC and a new MKX to make a big impact in 2014 and 2015 as Ford does its level best to make Lincoln relevant again. Cadillac, which is by no means a top-tier luxury player in Canada, sold 65% more vehicles in 2013 than Lincoln, twice as many in the month of December.

In both countries, the best-selling premium brand vehicle in 2013 was the BMW 3-Series. Canadians registered 12,507 copies of the 3-Series in its various forms. (Canadians also registered 546 4-Series coupes in the fourth quarter.) The 3-Series and 4-Series generated 41% of the BMW brand’s Canadian sales in 2013, up from 36% in 2012. With fast-falling X1 volume, BMW relied less heavily on SAVs this year, 44%, down from 47% in 2012. The X3 and X5 ranked ninth and 13th in 2012 (with the X1 in between), but the X5 moved up to 11th spot in 2013 as fourth quarter volume more than doubled.

In terms of outright volume, 2013 was a record year for the Canadian auto industry. Likewise, Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche all set Canadian sales records. GM Canada says Cadillac set a retail sales record.

Historical monthly and yearly sales figures for any of these top-selling luxury vehicles 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.

2014 Year End • 2012 Year End • 2011 Year End • 2010 Year End

Rank	Luxury Vehicle	2013	2012	% Change
#1	BMW 3-Series	12,507	11,234	11.3%
#2	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	9356	10,616	-11.9%
#3	Lexus RX	7789	7130	9.2%
#4	Audi Q5	7547	6152	22.7%
#5	Acura MDX	6114	5242	16.6%
#6	Acura RDX	6112	4726	29.3%
#7	Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class	5979	5279	13.3%
#8	Audi A4 *	5956	6118	-2.6%
#9	BMW X3	5658	5017	12.8%
#10	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	4804	5539	-13.3%
#11	BMW X5	4704	3975	18.3%
#12	Cadillac SRX	3765	3102	21.4%
#13	Mercedes-Benz E-Class & CLS-Class	3359	4083	-21.4%
#14	Cadillac ATS	3256	189	1623%
#15	Lincoln MKX	3238	3792	-14.6%

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 $45K.

Rank	Luxury Vehicle (Min. Base Price $45K)	2013	2012	% Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	4804	5539	-13.3%
#2	BMW X5	4704	3975	18.3%
#3	Mercedes-Benz E-Class & CLS-Class	3359	4083	-21.4%
#4	BMW 5-Series	2717	2727	-0.4%
#5	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	2408	1846	30.4%
#6	Volkswagen Touareg	2087	1975	5.7%
#7	Porsche Cayenne	2050	1628	25.9%
#8	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	1806	1634	10.5%
#9	Audi Q7	1781	1653	7.7%
#10	Chevrolet Tahoe	1632	1108	47.3%
#11	GMC Yukon	1333	1188	12.2%
#12	Chevrolet Suburban	1183	1022	15.8%
#13	GMC Yukon XL	1171	1111	5.4%
#14	Audi A6	1033	937	10.0%
#15	Cadillac Escalade & ESV/EXT	802	920	-12.8%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales
* A4 sales include sales of the unreported Allroad
$50,000 CDN (before delivery) is an arbitrary borderline, but if GCBC was to follow this new system of designating only expensive vehicles as luxury vehicles, $50K seemed like a safe place to begin – it equals the average U.S. new car transaction price plus $15,000, plus another $5000 to account for Canadian increases. Plenty of less expensive vehicles with specific models feature prices above $50,000 – M, RS, and AMG models come to mind, specifically – but in the case of this list, we know that none of the registrations were of cars priced at $35,900, as would be the case with the BMW 320i, which costs less than a Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0T Limited. The biggest problem with a $50,000 minimum price of entry? Cars like the Cadillac XTS, which starts at $48,940, sporty cars like the $49,500 Audi TT, and SUVs like the $49,990 Acura MDX. Volkswagen recently increased the base Touareg’s price to $50,975; GM jacked up the base Tahoe/Yukon price up to $51,580. The new Cadillac CTS sedan’s base price is above $50,000, but not the base price for other cars in the CTS lineup. Yet.
Total Infiniti G/Q50/Q60 volume: up 1.5% to 3048 in 2013.