Small And Midsize Luxury Car Sales In America – December 2013 And 2013 Year End

2013 Was A Transition Year For The CTS. The Third-Gen CTS Interior Looks Like This.

In America’s slow-growing passenger car market, luxury brands combined to put up some big numbers with their entry-level cars in 2013. 

Helped along by the inclusion of the Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class’s 14,113 sales in the final one-third of 2013, the BMW 3-Series-controlled category grew 16%, or 67,306 units in 2013. 

In fact, car sales dropped more than 3% in December 2013, but sales of these entry-level luxury sports sedans jumped 24%.

Click Chart To Expand

The CLA, with its very non-luxury $29,900 base price, clearly wasn’t the only car helping out the entry-level premium field in 2013. Cadillac added more than 31,000 sales with the ATS. Sales of the 3-Series and its renamed 4-Series two-door offspring were up by 19,919 sales. 

C-Class sales have fallen every month since the CLA arrived, but ended the year up 8%, or 6554 units. Sales of the Audi A4/A5 family were up by 4994 units. The new IS helped Lexus collect 7309 more entry-level rear/all-wheel-drive buyers. (Lexus ES sales were up 29%, as well.)

Meanwhile, the highest-profile midsize luxury cars – E-Class, 5-Series, A6 – were up 7%, 0.1%, and 18%, respectively. 

You can click any model name in the tables below to find historical monthly and yearly U.S. auto sales data. You can also select a make and model at GCBC’s Sales Stats page. These tables are now sortable, so you can rank small and midsize luxury cars any which way you like. Suggestions on how GCBC should break down segments can be passed on through the Contact page.

Click Column Headers To Sort • December 2014 • January 2014 • November 2013 • December 2012

Small/Entry Luxury Car	December 2013	December 2012	% Change	2013	2012	% Change
Acura ILX *	1573	2485	-36.7%	20,430	12,251	66.8%
Acura TSX	1019	2142	-52.4%	17,484	28,865	-39.4%
Audi A3	—	397	-100%	857	7205	-88.1%
Audi A4 *	3979	3806	4.5%	42,130	38,530	9.3%
Audi A5 *	1384	1572	-12.0%	18,664	17,270	8.1%
BMW 1-Series *	1039	757	37.3%	7220	7689	-6.1%
BMW 3-Series & 4-Series ^	16,737	10,745	55.8%	119,521	99,602	20.0%
Cadillac ATS	3887	2979	30.5%	38,319	7008	447%
Infiniti G/Q60 ^	1922	5516	-65.2%	40,062	59,844	-33.1%
Infiniti Q50 ^	4568	—	—	17,816	—	—
Lexus CT200h	1787	1598	11.8%	15,071	17,673	-14.7%
Lexus HS250h	—	2	-100%	5	649	-99.2%
Lexus IS	5414	2497	117%	35,017	27,708	26.4%
Mercedes-Benz C-Class	7229	7757	-6.8%	88,251	81,697	8.0%
Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class	3285	—	—	14,113	—	—
Volvo C30	17	240	-92.9%	1361	2827	-51.9%
Volvo S40	—	—	—	—	51	-100%
Volvo S60	1776	2344	-24.2%	23,210	23,356	-0.6%
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	55,516	44,837	23.8%	499,531	432,225	15.6%

Midsize Luxury Car	December 2013	December 2012	% Change	2013	2012	% Change
Acura RLX/RL ^	597	18	3217%	5053	379	1233%
Acura TL	1795	2246	-20.1%	24,318	33,572	-27.6%
Audi A6	2686	1875	43.3%	22,428	18,998	18.1%
Audi A7 *	944	926	1.9%	8483	8598	-1.3%
BMW 5-Series	8102	8385	-3.4%	56,863	56,798	0.1%
Cadillac CTS	3217	3372	-4.6%	32,343	46,979	-31.2%
Cadillac DTS	—	—	—	19	465	-95.9%
Cadillac STS	—	4	-100%	7	164	-95.7%
Cadillac XTS	2670	2939	-9.2%	32,559	15,049	116%
Hyundai Equus	352	350	0.6%	3578	3972	-9.9%
Infiniti M	367	849	-56.8%	5283	9130	-42.1%
Jaguar XF	805	527	52.8%	7922	5526	43.4%
Lexus ES	8213	7987	2.8%	72,581	56,158	29.2%
Lexus GS	2604	2796	-6.9%	19,742	22,160	-10.9%
Lincoln MKS	1074	1350	-20.4%	10,793	12,524	-13.8%
Lincoln MKZ	2823	1630	73.2%	32,361	28,053	15.4%
Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class	710	703	1.0%	8032	8065	-0.4%
Mercedes-Benz E-Class	8727	6984	25.0%	69,803	65,171	7.1%
Mercedes-Benz R-Class	—	9	-100%	30	1473	-98.0%
Volvo S80	186	207	-10.1%	1935	3277	-41.0%
Volvo XC70 *	445	518	-14.1%	4882	5513	-11.4%
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	42,897	43,675	-1.8%	419,015	402,024	4.2%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
* vehicle also displayed in another GCBC segment breakdown
^ BMW USA, not GCBC, has decided to combine sales figures for the 3-Series and 4-Series, and same goes for the Acura RLX and RL.
^ A4 includes Allroad, without which A4 sales were up 5% to 3543 in December; up 9% to 42,130 in 2013.
^ Combined, the new Q50 and the outgoing G were up 18% to 6490 in December, down 3% to 57,878 in 2013. Jointly, Q50 and G sedan sales were up 35% to 6028 in December; up 27% to 48,072 in 2013, and the G37 coupe/convertible and Q60 were down 55% to 462 in December; down 25% to 9806 in 2013.
GCBC isn’t here to break down segments, an impossible task for any group, but to display sales data for the sake of comparison. The more ways sales data can be displayed, the better, right? This explains why you’ll see the Acura ILX here but also with mainstream cars like the Buick Verano, too, and the Audi A5 is also displayed with coupes and convertibles… because readers have wanted it both ways. You can always find the sales results for EVERY vehicle and form your own competitive sets by using the All Vehicle Rankings posts.

RECOMMENDED READING
Small & Midsize Luxury Car Sales In America – December 2014 & Year End
Small And Midsize Luxury Car Sales In America – January 2014
Small And Midsize Luxury Car Sales In America – November 2013 YTD
Small And Midsize Luxury Car Sales In America – December 2012 & 2012 Year End
Top 25 Best-Selling Cars In America – 2013 Year End
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America – December 2013
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings – December 2013 & 2013 Year End