It’s certainly not a shock to see the BMW 3-Series (and its 4-Series offspring, formerly known as the 3-Series two-doors) atop these rankings of America’s best-selling luxury vehicles in the 2014 calendar year.
• U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings By Model – 2014 Year End
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Not a single month passed over the last year in which the 3-Series/4-Series was not ranked number one on these pages.
By the end of December, the 3er/4er family had generated 89% more sales than the next-best-selling premium brand car, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, a vehicle which spent much of the year transitioning out of the previous-generation and into the new iteration.
America’s top-selling luxury utility vehicle was once again the Lexus RX. Will the RX continue to sell in such large numbers now that it has a smaller rival in Lexus showrooms?
It appears so, as Lexus sold 2905 NXs in December, RX volume rose 3.5% to 13,625 units.
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.
2015 Year End • 2013 Year End • 2012 Year End • 2011 Year End • 2010 Year End
Rank
|
Premium Brand Vehicle
|
2014
|
2013
|
% Change |
#1
|
BMW 3-Series & 4-Series *
|
142,232 | 119,521 | 19.0% |
#2
|
Lexus RX
|
107,490 | 103,920 | 3.4% |
#3
|
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
|
75,065 | 88,251 | -14.9% |
#4
|
Lexus ES
|
72,508 | 72,581 | -0.1% |
#5
|
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
|
66,400 | 69,803 | -4.9% |
#6
|
Acura MDX
|
65,603 | 53,040 | 23.7% |
#7
|
Cadillac SRX
|
53,578 | 56,776 | -5.6% |
#8
|
BMW 5-Series
|
52,704 | 56,863 | -7.3% |
#9
|
Lexus IS
|
51,358 | 35,017 | 46.7% |
#10
|
BMW X5
|
47,031 | 39,818 | 18.1% |
#11
|
Mercedes-Benz M-Class
|
46,726 | 41,326 | 13.1% |
#12
|
Acura RDX
|
44,865 | 44,750 | 0.3% |
#13
|
Audi Q5
|
42,420 | 40,355 | 5.1% |
#14
|
Audi A4 *
|
38,679 | 42,130 | -8.2% |
#15
|
Infiniti Q50
|
36,899 | 17,816 | 107% |
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 $40K.
Rank
|
Vehicles With Base
Prices Above $45,000 |
2014
|
2013
|
% Change |
#1
|
Chevrolet Tahoe
|
97,726 | 83,502 | 17.0% |
#2
|
Chevrolet Suburban
|
55,009 | 51,260 | 7.3% |
#3
|
BMW 5-Series
|
52,704 | 56,863 | -7.3% |
#4
|
BMW X5
|
47,031 | 39,818 | 18.1% |
#5
|
Mercedes-Benz M-Class
|
46,726 | 41,326 | 13.1% |
#6
|
GMC Yukon
|
41,569 | 28,302 | 46.9% |
#7
|
Chevrolet Corvette
|
34,839 | 17,291 | 101% |
#8
|
Cadillac Escalade
|
30,522 | 22,514 | 35.6% |
|
Cadillac Escalade ^
|
19,482 | 12,592 | 54.7% |
|
Cadillac Escalade ESV ^
|
10,987 | 7950 | 38.2% |
|
Cadillac Escalade EXT ^
|
53 | 1972 | -97.3% |
#9
|
GMC Yukon XL
|
29,752 | 31,258 | -4.8% |
#10
|
Mercedes-Benz GL-Class
|
26,597 | 29,912 | -11.1% |
#11
|
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
|
25,276 | 13,303 | 90.0% |
#12
|
Lexus GX460
|
22,685 | 12,136 | 86.9% |
#13
|
Lexus GS
|
22,198 | 19,742 | 12.4% |
#14
|
Audi Q7
|
18,517 | 15,978 | 15.9% |
#15
|
Land Rover Range Rover Sport
|
17,897 | 15,976 | 12.0% |
Source: Automakers & ANDC
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales
$45,000 USD (before delivery) is an arbitrary borderline, but if GCBC was to follow this system of designating only expensive vehicles as luxury vehicles, adding approximately $15,000 to the average new car transaction price seemed like a fitting place to begin. Plenty of less expensive vehicles with specific models feature prices above $45,000 – M, RS, and AMG models come to mind, specifically – but in the case of the second list, we know that none of the registrations were of cars priced at $32,750, as would be the case with the new BMW 320i, which costs less than a Honda Accord V6 Touring. The biggest problem with a $45,000 minimum price of entry? Cars like the Cadillac XTS, which starts at $44,600, and the Audi A6, which starts at $44,800.
^ Escalade breakdown by variant.
* BMW USA, not GoodCarBadCar, has chosen to combine sales of the 3-Series and 4-Series. GCBC combines sales of the Audi A4 and Audi A4 Allroad. None-Allroad sales were down 7.5% to 33,993 in 2014.
Cadillac’s new CTS – 31,115 2014 sales – starts at $45,100, but the lingering CTS Coupe is a sub-$40K car, and the wagon starts at $42,195. The estimates that Tesla sold 26,400 copies of the Model S in 2014, but estimates for Tesla have typically proven to be on the very high side.
RECOMMENDED READING
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – 2015 Year End
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – 2013 Year End
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – 2012 Year End
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – 2011 Year End
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – December 2014
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings – 2014 Year End