Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – September 2015

Mercedes-Benz finished September as America’s top-selling premium auto brand after Lexus wore the crown in both July and August.

Through the first three quarters of 2015, the race between the top three brands is tight. Mercedes-Benz’s non-Sprinter sales are up 7% to 249,890, just 66 sales behind BMW’s 249,956-unit tally.

U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings By Model – August 2015 YTD

Lexus, meanwhile, is growing faster than either of the two Germans, but its 12% rise to 247,445 units places Toyota’s premium brand 2511 sales back of BMW.

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Not surprisingly, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus build America’s three top-selling premium brand vehicles. Combined sales of the 3-Series, C-Class, and RX rose 12% to 24,564 units in September.

Measured by percentage change, Land Rover, Infiniti, Audi, and Lexus are among the eight fastest-growing auto brands in America so far this year.

In a market that’s grown 4% over the course of the first nine months of 2015, those brands are jointly up 13% to 538,819 units, or 4.1% of the industry’s total volume.

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.

September 2016 • October 2015 • August 2015 • September 2014

Rank	Premium Brand Vehicle	September 2015	September 2014	% Change	2015 YTD	2014 YTD	% Change
#1	BMW 3-Series	9145	8270	10.6%	69,820	66,777	4.6%
#2	Lexus RX	7759	7453	4.1%	69,922	76,216	-8.3%
#3	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	7660	6285	21.9%	64,535	50,170	28.6%
#4	Cadillac SRX	6849	3700	85.1%	50,712	41,708	21.6%
#5	Lexus ES	5195	4164	24.1%	44,900	34,823	28.9%
#6	Audi Q5	5149	3240	58.9%	36,566	30,114	21.4%
#7	Acura TLX	4753	3884	22.4%	34,808	6170	464%
#8	Acura MDX	4313	4864	-11.3%	43,457	47,308	-10.0%
#9	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	4173	4884	-14.6%	35,325	52,609	-32.9%
#10	BMW 5-Series	4059	1407	188%	33,838	39,168	-13.6%
#11	Acura RDX	3848	3230	19.1%	38,502	33,095	16.3%
#12	Infiniti QX60	3845	2182	76.2%	29,378	22,613	29.9%
#13	Infiniti Q50	3557	2742	29.7%	31,603	25,864	22.2%
#14	Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class	3492	—	—	5294	—	—
#15	Lexus IS	3152	3611	-12.7%	35,389	37,038	-4.5%

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 $45K	September 2015	September 2014	% Change	2015 YTD	2014 YTD	% Change
#1	Chevrolet Tahoe	6119	5691	7.5%	64,728	70,528	-8.2%
#2	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	4173	4884	-14.6%	35,325	52,609	-32.9%
#3	BMW 5-Series	4059	1407	188%	33,838	39,168	-13.6%
#4	GMC Yukon	3963	3226	22.8%	30,011	30,684	-2.2%
#5	Chevrolet Suburban	3521	4101	-14.1%	35,715	38,588	-7.4%
#6	Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class	3492	—	—	5294	—	—
#7	Ford Expedition	3489	3598	-3.0%	30,483	32,691	-6.8%
#8	GMC Yukon XL	3027	2165	39.8%	20,939	21,928	-4.5%
#9	Cadillac Escalade	2809	3518	-20.2%	25,132	21,402	17.4%
	Cadillac Escalade *	1628	2290	-28.9%	14,977	13,705	9.3%
	Cadillac Escalade ESV *	1181	1228	-3.8%	10,153	7647	32.8%
	Cadillac Escalade EXT *	—	—	—	2	50	-96.0%
#10	Chevrolet Corvette	2572	2467	4.3%	26,398	25,950	1.7%
#11	BMW X5	2525	4398	-42.6%	40,490	33,021	22.6%
#12	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	2448	2154	13.6%	19,329	17,728	9.0%
#13	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	1956	1909	2.5%	15,994	16,915	-5.4%
#14	Audi Q7	1941	1365	42.2%	14,421	13,105	10.0%
#15	Audi A6	1713	1510	13.4%	17,072	17,167	-0.6%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
* Escalade breakdown by variant
$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.

Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America – September 2015
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In America – September 2015
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings – September 2015 YTD