Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – September 2016

Soaring September sales provided the Lexus RX with another victory as the best-selling premium brand vehicle in America.

Thanks to an 11% year-over-year uptick, the RX crossover outsold the BMW 3-Series – America’s top-selling premium brand car last month and the second-ranked premium car so far this year – by nearly 1200 units.

U.S. Vehicle Sales By Model – September 2016 YTD

Among the 15 top-selling premium brand vehicles in September 2016, the RX was one of 10 SUVs/crossovers. Three of the five top-selling premium brand cars reported harsh year-over-year declines.

Click Chart To Expand

Among vehicles with base prices above $50,000, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (and its CLS offshoot) was the top seller.

But the E-Class was one of just five cars, a list that includes the Chevrolet Corvette, BMW 5-Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and Cadillac CT6.

For the CT6, the 1343-unit total was the best month yet.

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. Mobile users can now thumb across the tables for full-width access.

October 2016 • August 2015 • September 2015

Rank	Premium Brand Vehicle	September 2016	September 2015	% Change	2016 YTD	2015 YTD	% Change
#1	Lexus RX	8,605	7,759	10.9%	76,240	69,922	9.0%
#2	BMW 3-Series	7,432	9,145	-18.7%	53,092	69,833	-24.0%
#3	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	6,600	7,660	-13.8%	56,334	64,535	-12.7%
#4	Acura MDX	4,930	4,313	14.3%	39,578	43,457	-8.9%
#5	Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class & GLK-Class	4,873	2,056	137%	36,390	20,377	78.6%
#6	Mercedes-Benz E-Class & CLS-Class	4,824	4,472	7.9%	37,576	39,941	-5.9%
#7	Lexus NX	4,729	3,113	51.9%	38,115	31,947	19.3%
#8	Cadillac XT5	4,608	—	—	21,696	—	—
#9	Lexus ES	4,543	5,195	-12.6%	43,773	46,962	-6.8%
#10	Infiniti Q50	4,359	3,557	22.5%	31,163	31,603	-1.4%
#11	Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class & M-Class	4,127	5,151	-19.9%	37,481	36,447	2.8%
#12	Audi Q5	3,957	5,149	-23.2%	35,195	36,566	-3.7%
#13	Acura RDX	3,919	3,848	1.8%	38,722	38,502	0.6%
#14	BMW X3	3,829	3,033	26.2%	31,003	20,783	49.2%
#15	Cadillac Escalade	3,750	2,809	33.5%	26,687	25,130	6.2%
#15	Cadillac Escalade *	2,097	1,628	28.8%	16,131	14,977	7.7%
#15	Cadillac Escalade ESV *	1,653	1,181	40.0%	10,556	10,153	4.0%

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 $50K	September 2016	September 2015	% Change	2016 YTD	2015 YTD	% Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz E-Class & CLS-Class	4,824	4,472	7.9%	37,576	39,941	-5.9%
#2	Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class & M-Class	4,127	5,151	-19.9%	37,481	36,447	2.8%
#3	Cadillac Escalade	3,750	2,809	33.5%	26,687	25,130	6.2%
	Cadillac Escalade *	2,097	1,628	28.8%	16,131	14,977	7.7%
	Cadillac Escalade ESV *	1,653	1,181	40.0%	10,556	10,153	4.0%
#4	BMW X5	3,749	2,525	48.5%	32,818	40,490	-18.9%
#5	GMC Yukon XL	3,500	3,027	15.6%	24,113	20,939	15.2%
#6	Chevrolet Corvette	2,829	2,572	10.0%	22,719	26,398	-13.9%
#7	Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class & GL-Class	2,782	2,448	13.6%	21,244	19,329	9.9%
#8	Audi Q7	2,475	1,941	27.5%	21,885	14,421	51.8%
#9	Lexus GX460	1,984	1,611	23.2%	17,545	17,860	-1.8%
#10	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	1,532	1,633	-6.2%	15,345	15,531	-1.2%
#11	BMW 5-Series	1,521	4,059	-62.5%	27,705	33,838	-18.1%
#12	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	1,440	1,956	-26.4%	13,414	15,996	-16.1%
#13	Cadillac CT6	1,343	—	—	5,391	—	—
#14	Porsche Cayenne	1,239	1,323	-6.3%	11,506	12,267	-6.2%
#15	Infiniti QX80	1,202	1,044	15.1%	11,794	10,532	12.0%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
$50,000 USD (before delivery) is an arbitrary borderline, upgraded in 2016 from $45K last year by $5K, but if GCBC was to follow this system of designating only expensive vehicles as luxury vehicles, adding approximately $20,000 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 $50,000 – 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 below that borderline.