Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – December 2013

During Its Best Ever Month, 16% Of The Audi
Q5s Sold In America Were Diesel-Powered

December, often a strong month for luxury auto brands in the United States, was no different in 2013. December was BMW USA’s best month in 2013, as it was for Lexus, the second-ranked brand last month. Audi reported the highest-volume month in the company’s history.

With big brand figures come big model-specific sales figures.

BMW sold nearly 6000 more 3-Series sedans and wagons (and 4-Series two-door offshoots) in December 2013 than in December 2012.

• All 270 Vehicles Ranked By 2013 Year End & December U.S. Sales

Lexus RX sales rose to 13,169, making the RX America’s tenth-best-selling utility vehicle overall.

Click Chart To Expand

On this list of America’s top premium brand automobiles, the 15th-ranked Cadillac ATS reported its best month yet.

Lexus IS sales more than doubled to 5414 units.

The 2013 year end edition of this post will be published shortly.

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.

December 2014 • January 2014 • November 2013 • December 2012

Rank	Luxury Vehicle	December 2013	December 2012	% Change	2013	2012	% Change
#1	BMW 3-Series & 4-Series *	16,737	10,745	55.8%	119,521	99,602	20.0%
#2	Lexus RX	13,169	12,534	5.1%	103,920	95,381	9.0%
#3	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	8727	6984	25.0%	69,803	65,171	7.1%
#4	Lexus ES	8213	7987	2.8%	72,581	56,158	29.2%
#5	BMW 5-Series	8102	8385	-3.4%	56,863	56,798	0.1%
#6	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	7229	7757	-6.8%	88,251	81,697	8.0%
#7	Acura MDX	6538	5069	29.0%	53,040	50,854	4.3%
#8	Cadillac SRX	6074	6400	-5.1%	56,776	57,845	-1.2%
#9	Lexus IS	5414	2497	117%	35,017	27,708	26.4%
#10	Audi Q5	4794	3626	32.2%	40,355	28,671	40.8%
#11	Infiniti Q50 ^	4568	—	—	17,816	—	—
#12	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	4485	4241	5.8%	41,236	38,101	8.5%
#13	Acura RDX	4215	4024	4.7%	44,750	29,520	51.6%
#14	Audi A4 *	3979	3806	4.5%	42,130	38,530	9.3%
#15	Cadillac ATS	3887	2979	30.5%	38,319	7008	447%

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	Luxury Vehicle (Min. Base Price $45K)	December 2013	December 2012	% Change	2013	2012	% Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	8727	6984	25.0%	69,803	65,171	7.1%
#2	BMW 5-Series	8102	8385	-3.4%	56,863	56,798	0.1%
#3	Chevrolet Suburban	5820	5956	-2.3%	51,260	48,116	6.5%
#4	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	4485	4241	5.8%	41,236	38,101	8.5%
#5	GMC Yukon XL	3158	2929	7.8%	31,258	23,427	33.4%
#6	Chevrolet Corvette	3005	1291	133%	17,291	14,132	22.4%
#7	Lexus GS	2604	2796	-6.9%	19,742	22,160	-10.9%
#8	Cadillac Escalade & ESV/EXT	2311	2554	-9.5%	22,514	22,632	-0.5%
#9	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	2305	2003	15.1%	15,976	16,491	-3.1%
#10	Audi Q7	2279	1493	52.6%	15,978	11,008	45.1%
#11	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	2239	3111	-28.0%	29,912	26,042	14.9%
#12	BMW X5	1953	5722	-65.9%	39,818	44,445	-10.4%
#13	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	1857	1110	67.3%	13,303	11,794	12.8%
#14	Lexus GX460	1830	1407	30.1%	12,136	11,039	9.9%
#15	Infiniti QX80 / QX56	1750	2232	-21.6%	13,148	15,310	-14.1%

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 $32,550, 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 $44,075.
^ In December, Infiniti also sold 1460 copies of the Q50’s predecessor, the G sedan, and 462 Q60s.
* BMW USA, not GoodCarBadCar, has chosen to combine sales of the 3-Series and 4-Series. A4 sales include the Allroad.
Cadillac’s new CTS – 3217 December sales – starts at $45,100, but the lingering CTS Coupe is a sub-$40K car, and the wagon starts at $42,195.
This post was updated at 9:54 AM AT on the day of publishing to include the whole Escalade trio as is the tradition at GCBC.