Large Luxury Car Sales And Large Luxury SUV Sales In America – October 2011

Of the 4761 large luxury sedans sold in the United States in October, very nearly two-thirds were German. Audi’s share of the market stood at 8% in October 2011 as sales jumped 991% from the same period last year. Despite the significant increase, Audi’s new A8 is still the least popular car in its class.

At the top sits the Mercedes-Benz S-class. Sales of the biggest Benz, nearly 10,000 of which have been sold this year, fell 48% in October, however, making way for the BMW 7-Series. 7-Series sales jumped 62% in October but are down 15% this year. But the 7-Series wasn’t the class-leading car in October 2011, either.

October 2011’s large luxury crown is worn by the Lexus LS. Sales of the LS sales were down, but only by 16 units. That’s a much better performance than Lexus has achieved on year-to-date terms, as the big Lexus has struggled since Japan’s March 11 earthquake. Year-to-date LS sales are down by 1931 units. Lexus owned a quarter of America’s large luxury car market last month, a fact which is very visible in the chart below.

Keep scrolling after the jump for a look at more detailed sales figures on large limos and large luxury sport-utility vehicles.

U.S. large luxury car sales chart October 2011

Large Luxury Car	October 2011	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
Audi A8	382	+ 991%	4561	+ 565%
BMW 7-Series	1103	+ 62%	8853	– 15%
Jaguar XJ	552	+ 12%	4752	+ 48%
Lexus LS	1186	– 1%	7558	– 20%
Mercedes-Benz S-Class	927	– 48%	9804	– 15%
Porsche Panamera	611	– 18%	5795	– 8%

Mercedes-Benz’s S-Class may have struggled in October, but the GL-Class did not. Sales of the seriously capable Benz were up 13% last month and have improved at a 22% clip through the first ten months of this year.

At Lexus, the company’s GL-Class-rival was way down from what was an already low-volume October 2010. LX570 sales are down 14% this year but slid 34% in October even as the brand’s LS limo regained control of its segment.

Over at Cadillac, 62% of Escalade sales were formed by the regular-wheelbase Escalade. Another 31% were long-wheelbase Escalade ESVs. 7% of Escalade sales were of the Avalanche-based EXT variety. Details on these SUVs and a handful of others can be seen in the table and chart below.

Large Luxury SUV	October 2011	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
Cadillac Escalade & Escalade ESV/EXT	2309	– 12%	19,985	– 4%
Infiniti QX56	1244	+ 8%	10,247	+ 14%
Land Rover Range Rover	921	+ 18%	8206	+ 15%
Lexus LX	266	– 34%	2578	– 14%
Lincoln Navigator	730	0%	6356	– 5%
Mercedes-Benz G-Class	80	– 29%	1077	+ 49%
Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	2128	+ 13%	19,324	+ 22%
Toyota Land Cruiser	137	– 20%	1363	– 6%