Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - September 2014

Among vehicles with base prices of more than $45,000, five of September's ten best sellers were General Motors products.

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• All Makes & Models Ranked By September 2014 YTD U.S. Sales

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Click Chart To Expand

GM says their average transaction price rose to a best-ever $34,600 in September 2014, $1200 higher than August's ATP and $2500 up from September 2013's ATP. GM, however, credited strong truck and crossover sales for the profit-driving selling prices, and not Cadillac. 

Among premium brand vehicles, the highest-ranked Cadillac was the ninth-place SRX, sales of which fell 15% in September after a 37% drop in August. 

The Escalade lineup combined for 3518 sales, 2290 from the regular wheelbase and 1228 from the ESV. But Cadillac car sales slid 14%. Together with the SRX's decline, this cancelled out the doubling of Escalade sales, and total Cadillac volume grew by just one unit, year-over-year, as the industry jumped more than 9%.

Instead of selling Cadillacs at Mercedes-Benz or BMW-like levels, General Motors still does a remarkable job of controlling the volume-brand full-size SUV category. The Yukon, Yukon XL, and Suburban all have base prices in excess of $45,000, and the better-selling Tahoe starts at $44,895. Corvette sales, meanwhile, tripled to 2467 units in September. Corvette pricing starts $54,000.

Also present on that GM-heavy $45K+ list at the bottom of this post are four Mercedes-Benzes, two cars and two SUVs. The best-selling premium brand vehicle in America is the BMW 3-Series (4-Series inclusive, as per BMW's sales release). 3-Series/4-Series sales shot up 50.5% in September. America's leading premium brand utility vehicle is the Lexus RX.

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.

October 2014 • August 2014 • September 2013

Rank	Premium Brand Vehicle	September 2014	September 2013	% Change	2014 YTD	2013 YTD	% Change
#1	BMW 3-Series & 4-Series *	12,814	8512	50.5%	94,445	77,921	21.2%
#2	Lexus RX	7453	7601	-1.9%	76,216	73,279	4.0%
#3	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	6285	6389	-1.6%	50,170	66,596	-24.7%
#4	Lexus ES	5722	4866	17.6%	52,910	52,076	1.6%
#5	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	4883	5646	-13.5%	52,608	46,006	14.4%
#6	Acura MDX	4864	4539	7.2%	48,308	34,803	38.8%
#7	BMW X5	4398	4667	-5.8%	33,021	31,280	5.6%
#8	Acura TLX	3884	---	---	6170	---	---
#9	Cadillac SRX	3700	4362	-15.2%	41,708	40,506	3.0%
#10	Lexus IS	3611	3201	12.8%	37,038	22,060	67.9%
#11	Cadillac Escalade	3518	1754	101%	21,402	16,543	29.4%
	Cadillac Escalade ^	2290	968	137%	13,705	8953	53.1%
	Cadillac Escalade ESV ^	1228	634	93.7%	7647	5916	29.3%
	Cadillac Escalade EXT ^	---	152	-100%	50	1674	-97.0%
#12	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	3460	3180	8.8%	32,114	29,400	9.2%
#13	Audi Q5	3240	3268	-0.9%	30,114	28,599	5.3%
#14	Acura RDX	3230	3022	6.9%	33,095	33,539	-1.3%
#15	Audi A4 *	2994	3813	-21.5%	29,304	31,113	-5.8%

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 2014	September 2013	% Change	2014 YTD	2013 YTD	% Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	4883	5647	-13.5%	52,608	46,006	14.4%
#2	BMW X5	4398	4667	-5.8%	33,021	31,280	5.6%
#3	Chevrolet Suburban	4101	2733	50.1%	38,588	34,580	11.6%
#4	Cadillac Escalade	3518	1754	101%	21,402	16,543	29.4%
	Cadillac Escalade ^	2290	968	137%	13,705	8953	53.1%
	Cadillac Escalade ESV ^	1228	634	93.7%	7647	5916	29.3%
	Cadillac Escalade EXT ^	---	152	-100%	50	1674	-97.0%
#5	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	3460	3180	8.8%	32,114	29,400	9.2%
#6	GMC Yukon	3226	1667	93.5%	30,684	18,907	62.3%
#7	Chevrolet Corvette	2467	831	197%	25,950	7830	231%
#8	GMC Yukon XL	2165	1320	64.0%	21,928	21,946	-0.1%
#9	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	2154	2349	-8.3%	17,728	22,182	-20.1%
#10	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	1909	387	373%	16,915	7625	122%
#11	Lexus GS	1592	1231	29.3%	16,252	14,255	14.0%
#12	Lexus GX460	1570	753	108%	15,999	7105	125%
#13	BMW 5-Series	1407	3574	-60.6%	39,168	38,681	1.3%
#14	Audi Q7	1365	1386	-1.5%	13,105	10,772	21.7%
#15	Porsche Cayenne	1196	1396	-14.3%	12,940	13,913	-7.0%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
$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. The biggest problem with a $45,000 minimum price of entry? Cars like the Cadillac XTS, which starts at $44,600 and SUVs like the $48,895 Chevrolet Tahoe.
^ In September, Infiniti sold 881 copies of the Q50's predecessor, the G sedan, and 454 Q60s to go along with 2742 Q50s.
* BMW USA, not GoodCarBadCar, has chosen to combine sales of the 3-Series and 4-Series. GCBC combines sales of the Audi A4 and Audi A4 Allroad. None-Allroad sales were 2480 in September.
Cadillac's new CTS - 2282 September sales - starts at $45,100, but the lingering CTS Coupe is a sub-$40K car, and the wagon starts at $42,195.

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Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - October 2014
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