Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada – July 2014

Although sales of BMW’s core model were down 31% in Canada in July 2014, and though sales of that 3-Series and its 4-Series offshoot were jointly down 4%, the 3-Series still came out on top of the premium brand leaderboard.

Meanwhile, the 4-Series ranked 11th, just behind the transitioning Mercedes-Benz C-Class range, just ahead of the top-selling Cadillac, the SRX.

Compared with last month’s edition of this list, the Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLK fell off; the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (sales of which annoyingly include the CLS-Class in Canada) and Cadillac ATS were added. The Audi Q5 slid back to third spot from number two, but it still leads all premium brand utility vehicles. The race between the Lexus RX and the Q5 looks like it will go down to the wire.

Among vehicles with base prices above $50,000, 12 of the top 15 – including the top two, eight of the top nine, and ten of the top twelve – were SUVs or crossovers of some kind, including a trio of high-priced volume brand SUVs from General Motors and their truly premium partner, the Cadillac Escalade.

• All Makes & Models Ranked By July 2014 YTD Canadian Sales

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.

July 2015 • August 2014 • June 2014 • July 2013

Rank	Premium Brand Vehicle	July 2014	July 2013	% Change	2014 YTD	2013 YTD	% Change
#1	BMW 3-Series	956	1391	-31.3%	5349	7372	-27.4%
#2	Lexus RX	649	662	-2.0%	4429	4365	1.5%
#3	Audi Q5	644	585	10.1%	4488	4146	8.2%
#4	BMW X3	539	324	66.4%	3115	3928	-20.7%
#5	Acura MDX	499	600	-16.8%	3431	3526	-2.7%
#6	Acura RDX	485	478	1.5%	3936	3519	11.8%
#7	Audi A4 °	476	456	4.4%	3498	3506	-0.2%
#8	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	461	371	24.3%	3261	2456	32.8%
#9	BMW X5	406	329	23.4%	3606	1803	100%
#10	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	384	942	-59.2%	3792	5552	-31.7%
#11	BMW 4-Series	383	—	—	1751	—	—
#12	Cadillac SRX	382	363	5.2%	2593	1924	34.8%
#13	Cadillac ATS	349	216	61.6%	2108	1643	28.3%
#14	Mercedes-Benz E-Class & CLS-Class ^	342	281	21.7%	2174	1744	24.7%
#15	Lexus IS	339	315	7.6%	2340	953	146%

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. Maserati only reports brand totals. Buick has been excluded with a bunch of other automakers that don’t sell vehicles with base prices higher than $45K.

Rank	Vehicles With Base Prices Above $50K	July 2014	July 2013	% Change	2014 YTD	2013 YTD	% Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	461	371	24.3%	3261	2456	32.8%
#2	BMW X5	406	329	23.4%	3606	1803	100%
#3	Mercedes-Benz E-Class & CLS-Class ^	342	281	21.7%	2174	1744	24.7%
#4	GMC Yukon	229	120	90.8%	827	752	10.0%
#5	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	209	97	115%	1577	887	77.8%
#6	Volkswagen Touareg	207	144	43.8%	1205	1193	1.0%
#7	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	203	118	72.0%	1441	1380	4.4%
#8	Porsche Cayenne	198	167	18.6%	1280	1095	16.9%
#9	Porsche Macan	191	—	—	463	—	—
#10	BMW 5-Series	178	185	-3.8%	1224	1295	-5.5%
#11	Audi Q7	155	179	-13.4%	1164	1039	12.0%
#12	GMC Yukon XL	147	30	390%	930	511	82.0%
#13	Chevrolet Corvette	133	12	1008%	889	123	623%
#14	Cadillac Escalade	110	52	112%	300	479	-37.4%
—	Cadillac Escalade *	85	32	166%	219	252	-13.1%
—	Cadillac Escalade ESV *	25	3	733%	75	81	-7.4%
—	Cadillac Escalade EXT *	—	17	-100%	6	146	95.9%
#15	Chevrolet Suburban	95	86	10.5%	499	670	-25.5%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
° A4 sales include sales of the unreported Allroad.
^ Mercedes-Benz Canada’s figures combine the E-Class with the CLS and the S-Class with the CL.
* Escalade breakdown by variant
$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 $49,440, sporty cars like the $49,500 Audi TT, and SUVs like the $49,990 Acura MDX and $49,565 Chevrolet Tahoe. Volkswagen recently increased the base Touareg’s price to $50,975; GM jacked up the base Yukon price up to $51,090.
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 CTS sales in July: 80.
Total Infiniti G/Q50/Q60 volume: 273 in July; 2238 YTD.

Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada – July 2014
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In Canada – July 2014
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In Canada – July 2014
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings – July 2014 YTD