Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada – March 2013

BMW’s Next X Model Will Be
Almost Identical To This X4 Concept

One could argue that the Buick Verano is no luxury car. I’ve made arguments for and against its premium (or mainstream) status. We can’t exactly deny, however, that a Verano is certainly priced a good ways beyond the Chevrolet Cruze, with which it shares a fair bit of architecture. It can also be equipped like a luxury car.

There are those who fondly recall the days when Buick was highly thought of. Then there are the rest of us. We don’t fondly recall the 2001 Buick Century.

Nevertheless, after GM fans campaigned for months for Buick to be included as a premium brand in this post, GoodCarBadCar has relented.

Every Vehicle Ranked By March 2013 & YTD Canadian Sales

Why? Because we can do while also showing premium status another way. The cars that ride above the $50,000 barrier are ranked in the second table. Besides, subtract the Verano from ninth spot and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (and its CLS-Class sibling) slot into the top 15 with 323 March sales.

Click Chart For Larger View

Regardless, GoodCarBadCar ranks all vehicles every month in one exhaustive list. You should see March’s Canadian version in the next couple days. The U.S. edition was posted last week.

Buick certainly wasn’t the marketer of cars that led the way in Canada last month. BMW sold 1244 3-Series’ in March; Mercedes-Benz more than 1000 C-Class sedans and coupes. Five crossovers – X3, MDX, GLK, Q5, RX – combined for 3681 March sales. Huge year-over-year gains were generated by all five of those nameplates. Together they sold 2092 copies in March 2012.

Historical monthly and yearly sales figures for every vehicle can be accessed through GCBC’s Sales Stats page – simply select a make and/or model. That way, you could compile your own best-selling luxury list with the vehicles you deem applicable. Whether the three-pointed star on a $29,900 B-Class’s grille makes it a luxury car or the potential for a $74,000 sticker makes the Chevrolet Suburban a luxury SUV, you decide.

March 2014 – April 2013 – February 2013 – March 2012

Rank	Luxury Vehicle (Premium Brands)	March 2013	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	BMW 3-Series	1244	+ 23.4%	2546	+ 14.2%
#2	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	1057	– 3.7%	1984	– 18.0%
#3	BMW X3	829	+ 212%	1652	+ 133%
#4	Acura MDX	783	+ 112%	1205	+ 23.8%
#5	Mercedes-Benz GLK	779	+ 45.1%	1430	+ 18.3%
#6	Audi Q5	687	+ 60.1%	1581	+ 10.1%
#7	Lexus RX	613	+ 25.1%	1476	+ 6.5%
#8	Audi A4	568	– 23.7%	1257	– 20.3%
#9	Buick Verano	437	– 28.6%	948	+ 5.3%
#10	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	430	– 31.7%	1038	– 39.5%
#11	Acura RDX	423	+ 236%	1175	+ 145%
#12	Mercedes-Benz B-Class	363	—–	742	+ 74,100%
#13	Infiniti JX	350	—–	786	—–
#14	Infiniti G	340	– 40.9%	629	– 45.7%
#15	Lincoln MKX	326	– 4.1%	738	– 5.3%

For the purposes of the above list, premium brands include Acura, Audi, BMW, Buick, 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.

Rank	Luxury Vehicle (Min. Base Price $50,000)	March 2013	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	430	– 31.7%	1038	– 39.5%
#2	Mercedes-Benz E-Class & CLS-Class	323	– 30.7%	623	– 28.9%
#3	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class & G-Class	283	+ 138%	666	+ 73.4%
#4	BMW X5	273	– 18.0%	628	– 26.1%
#5	BMW 5-Series	206	– 36.4%	537	– 9.6%
#6	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	184	+ 13.6%	432	+ 17.1%
#7	Porsche Cayenne	164	+ 33.3%	368	+ 30.0%
#8	Audi Q7	155	+ 14.0%	373	– 2.4%
#9	GMC Yukon XL	137	+ 39.8%	196	– 7.1%
#10	Chevrolet Suburban	108	+ 8.0%	214	– 12.3%
#11	Audi A6	93	+ 31.0%	196	– 14.8%
#12	Jaguar XF	86	+ 87.0%	141	+ 54.9%
#13	Infiniti FX	84	– 7.7%	192	– 2.0%
#14	Cadillac Escalade	83	– 22.4%	204	– 16.7%
T15	BMW X6	76	+ 5.6%	173	– 11.7%
T15	Audi A7	76	– 18.3%	155	– 28.2%

Source: Manufacturers & ANDC
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales
$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 $48,995, sporty cars like the $48,600 Audi TT, and SUVs like the $49,930 Chevrolet Tahoe and $49,675 Volkswagen Touareg.