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

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BMW Canada sold 1079 copies of their 3-Series in October 2013 plus another 191 4-Series coupes.

That’s almost twice as many entry-level luxury cars as Mercedes-Benz sold with their C-Class. Mercedes-Benz also sold 175 CLA-Class sedans; BMW added 23 1-Series coupes and convertibles. Audi sold 606 A4s.

There’s no doubt that Cadillac’s ATS isn’t the top seller, but it’s positioned as the fourth-best-selling car in its class, and it’s outselling other new rivals like the Lexus IS and Infiniti Q50, both of which are produced by automakers which have established themselves in the category. Expectations for new 3-Series competitors in the small luxury sports sedan class are always high, and that’s clearly been the case with the Cadillac ATS.

• All 257 Autos Ranked By October 2013/YTD Canadian Sales

Yet expectations should probably have been low. Cadillac is not a much-loved brand in Canada. Compare the brand’s October market share in the luxury category, 7.1%, with Cadillac’s market share south of the border, 9.6%. Go another step and compare Cadillac’s year-to-date industry-wide market share in Canada, 0.5%, with Cadillac’s market share in the United States, 1.1%. The fact that the ATS is a Cadillac may be the biggest problem it has in Canada.

Does the 3-Series outsell the ATS? Er… yeah. Are you surprised? The 3-Series outsells everything.

If we judge the ATS not as a 3-Series rival but as a boon to Cadillac, it’s selling rather well. And if we say the ATS isn’t successful, we ought to judge the Lexus IS and Infiniti Q50 and Volvo S60 with the same harsh criticism. Among premium brand passenger cars in Canada, only three sold better in October. For a car that’s only been on the market for a year, that’s not bad. October 2013 was the ATS’s best Canadian sales month so far.

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. Canada’s favourite luxury vehicles in October 2013 are listed below.

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	1079	1000	7.9%	10,934	9384	16.5%
#2	Lexus RX	765	693	10.4%	6595	6011	9.7%
#3	Audi Q5	744	629	18.3%	6236	4905	27.1%
#4	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	731	679	7.7%	7736	8777	– 11.9%
#5	BMW X5	703	498	41.2%	3268	3438	– 4.9%
#6	Audi A4 *	606	598	1.3%	5113	5245	– 2.5%
#7	Acura RDX	556	480	15.8%	5092	3935	29.4%
#8	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	538	414	30.0%	3940	4682	– 15.8%
#9	Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class	534	447	19.5%	5150	4286	20.2%
#10	Acura MDX	489	497	– 1.6%	5010	4287	16.9%
#11	Cadillac SRX	457	357	28.0%	3187	2524	26.35
#12	Cadillac ATS	365	56	552%	2528	56	4414%
#13	BMW X3	364	610	– 40.3%	5029	4203	19.7%
#14	Lexus IS	352	176	100%	2022	1692	19.5%
#15	BMW 5-Series	351	204	72.1%	2118	2342	– 9.6%

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. BMW Canada is not including sales of the 4-Series with the 3-Series as BMW USA has done thus far.
* A4 sales include sales of the unreported Allroad.

Rank	Vehicles With Base Prices Above $50K	October 2013	October 2012	% Change	2013 YTD	2012 YTD	% Change
#1	BMW X5	703	498	41.2%	3268	3438	– 4.9%
#2	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	538	414	30.0%	3940	4682	– 15.8%
#3	BMW 5-Series	351	204	72.1%	2118	2342	– 9.6%
#4	Mercedes-Benz E-Class & CLS-Class	340	338	0.6%	2670	3599	– 25.8%
#5	Porsche Cayenne	209	160	30.6%	1687	1330	26.8%
#6	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	200	177	13.0%	2064	1488	38.7%
#7	Audi Q7	179	188	– 4.8%	1556	1410	10.4%
#8	Volkswagen Touareg	173	203	– 14.8%	1723	1626	6.0%
#9	GMC Yukon XL	169	137	23.4%	979	879	11.4%
#10	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	169	155	9.0%	1380	1379	0.1%
#11	Chevrolet Suburban	143	149	– 4.0%	1019	811	25.6%
#12	Audi A6	90	89	1.1%	874	802	9.0%
#13	Toyota Sequoia	79	72	9.7%	610	591	3.2%
#14	Chevrolet Corvette	76	15	407%	224	222	0.9%
#15	Audi A7	65	91	– 28.6%	593	805	– 26.3%

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 $49,930 Chevrolet Tahoe, $49,990 Acura MDX. Volkswagen recently increased the base Touareg’s price to $50,975
Total Infiniti G/Q50/Q60 sales rose 27% to 292 in October but are down 6% to 2589 YTD. Total G Sedan/Q50 sales rose 47% to 267 in October; 1% to 2128 YTD.