Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America

Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - August 2015

September 02, 2015

U.S. sales of BMW’s 3-Series jumped 24% in August 2015, a gain of nearly 2000 units which helped the most important BMW fend off a challenge from the outgoing Lexus RX.

In addition to the 9620 RXs sold by Lexus’s U.S. dealers, Lexus also reported 4448 NX sales. August marked the first occasion that the NX outsold the Acura RDX.

Among America’s 15 top-selling premium brand vehicles in August, only seven were utility vehicles. That’s down from nine in July and eight in August 2014.

Among vehicles priced above $45,000, GM SUVs were dominant; not only the Escalade but other high-priced volume players from Chevrolet and GMC. Only five members of the latter list hail from the passenger car sector.

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.

July 2015 • August 2014

Rank	Premium Brand Vehicle	August 2015	August 2014	% Change	2015 YTD	2014 YTD	% Change
#1	BMW 3-Series **	10,163	8197	24.0%	60,675	58,507	3.7%
#2	Lexus RX	9620	11,841	-18.8%	62,163	68,763	-9.6%
#3	Lexus ES	7286	7692	-5.3%	41,767	47,188	-11.5%
#4	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	7154	5151	38.9%	56,875	43,885	29.6%
#5	Cadillac SRX	6903	4545	51.9%	43,863	38,008	15.4%
#6	Audi Q5	5051	3757	34.4%	31,417	26,874	16.9%
#7	Acura MDX	4747	6497	-26.9%	39,144	43,444	-9.9%
#8	Lexus IS	4537	5312	-14.6%	32,237	33,427	-3.6%
#9	Lexus NX	4448	—	—	28,834	—	—
#10	Acura RDX	4364	3984	9.5%	34,654	29,865	16.0%
#11	Acura TLX	4353	2286	90.4%	30,055	2286	1215%
#12	BMW 5-Series	4012	4468	-10.2%	29,779	37,761	-21.1%
#13	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	4006	6481	-38.2%	31,152	47,725	-34.7%
#14	Infiniti QX60	3995	2600	53.7%	25,533	20,431	25.0%
#15	Infiniti Q50	3839	2655	44.6%	28,046	23,122	21.3%

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	August 2015	August 2014	% Change	2015 YTD	2014 YTD	% Change
#1	Chevrolet Tahoe	8221	8216	0.1%	58,609	64,837	-9.6%
#2	Chevrolet Suburban	4499	5748	-21.7%	32,194	34,487	-6.6%
#3	GMC Yukon	4493	4715	-4.7%	26,048	27,458	-5.1%
#4	BMW 5-Series	4012	4468	-10.2%	29,779	37,761	-21.1%
#5	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	4006	6481	-38.2%	31,152	47,725	-34.7%
#6	Ford Expedition ˆ	3401	2623	29.7%	26,994	29,093	-7.2%
#7	Cadillac Escalade	3080	3535	-12.9%	22,323	17,774	24.8%
	Cadillac Escalade *	1770	2277	-22.3%	13,349	11,415	16.9%
	Cadillac Escalade ESV *	1310	1257	4.2%	8972	6419	39.8%
	Cadillac Escalade EXT *	—	1	-100%	2	50	-96.0%
#8	BMW X5	2803	3497	-19.8%	37,965	28,623	32.6%
#9	Chevrolet Corvette	2725	2679	1.7%	23,826	23,483	1.5%
#10	Mercedes-Benz M-Class °	2679	3438	-22.1%	29,490	28,654	2.9%
#11	Lexus GX	2221	2198	1.0%	16,249	14,429	12.6%
#12	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	2188	2208	-0.9%	16,881	15,574	8.4%
#13	GMC Yukon XL	2175	3319	-34.5%	17,912	19,763	-9.4%
#14	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	2044	1855	10.2%	14,038	15,006	-6.5%
#15	Audi A6	2022	1927	4.9%	15,359	15,657	-1.9%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
* Escalade breakdown by variant
ˆ Ford recently bumped the Expedition’s base price just above the $45K mark.
° Mercedes-Benz also sold 1802 copies of the M’s renamed successor, the GLE.
** BMW USA was choosing to combine sales figures of the 3-Series & 4-Series but gave that action up in June.
$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 – August 2015
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In America – August 2015
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings – August 2015 YTD