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

BMW USA generated 47% of their U.S. July 2014 sales volume with the 3-Series and the 3-Series' two-door (and four-door) 4-Series offshoot. This translates to 12,497 sales, the third consecutive month in five digits for the core BMW model. 

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

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No other premium brand automobile registered more than 10,000 U.S. sales last month.

The Lexus RX led all premium brand utility vehicles and ranked second overall among these lux leaders. There was but one additional BMW, the seventh-ranked 5-Series, in the top 15. Lexus, the top-selling premium brand in America in July 2014, propelled three vehicles into the top nine.

Nine of the 15 best-selling premium brand vehicles in July were SUVs or crossovers. You'll see that the tenth-ranked vehicle, the Cadillac Escalade, takes into account the sales of both Escalade variants. Ford Motor Company's Lincoln Navigator sales figures are compiled this way automatically, so it's not a bizarre approach. Nevertheless, if the Escalade and ESV were separated, neither would crack the top 15, granting entry to the Lincoln MKZ, sales of which slid 1.2% to 2776 in July. 

As for Cadillac, the brand's light truck division - Escalades and the SRX - was up 23% in July. But combined sales of all Cadillac cars were down 23%. ATS sales dropped 11% to 2582 units, the CTS was down 29% to 2039, the XTS slid 34% to 1939, and the ELR (with its best month so far) attracted 188 new customers. Audi has outsold Cadillac by 1607 units so far this year. 

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.

August 2014 • June 2014 • July 2013

Rank	Premium Brand Vehicle	July 2014	July 2013	% Change	2014 YTD	2013 YTD	% Change
#1	BMW 3-Series & 4-Series *	12,497	9890	26.4%	69,154	59,052	17.1%
#2	Lexus RX	9658	8437	14.5%	56,922	54,255	4.9%
#3	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	6648	5605	18.6%	41,244	33,836	21.9%
#4	Lexus ES	6326	6089	3.9%	39,496	39,582	-0.2%
#5	Acura MDX	6283	5551	13.2%	36,947	23,765	55.5%
#6	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	5700	7604	-25.0%	38,734	53,506	-27.6%
#7	BMW 5-Series	5676	4857	16.9%	33,293	30,748	8.3%
#8	Cadillac SRX	4599	4943	-7.0%	33,463	28,933	15.7%
#9	Lexus IS	4542	3641	24.7%	28,115	14,427	94.9%
#10	Cadillac Escalade	3894	1975	97.2%	14,349	12,638	13.5%
	Cadillac Escalade ^	2467	1105	123%	9138	6782	34.7%
	Cadillac Escalade ESV ^	1427	688	107%	5162	4515	14.3%
	Cadillac Escalade EXT ^	---	182	-100%	49	1341	-96.3%
#11	Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class	3870	2780	39.2%	22,508	18,526	21.5%
#12	Acura RDX	3532	3936	-10.3%	25,881	26,136	-1.0%
#13	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	3276	3092	6.0%	25,216	22,404	12.6%
#14	Audi Q5	3189	3176	0.4%	23,117	21,486	7.6%
#15	Audi A4 *	3083	3451	-10.7%	22,492	24,040	-6.4%

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	July 2014	July 2013	% Change	2014 YTD	2013 YTD	% Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	6648	5605	18.6%	41,244	33,836	21.9%
#2	BMW 5-Series	5676	4857	16.9%	33,293	30,748	8.3%
#3	Chevrolet Suburban	5168	6181	-16.4%	28,739	27,844	3.2%
#4	GMC Yukon	4139	2790	48.4%	22,743	14,895	52.7%
#5	Cadillac Escalade	3894	1975	97.2%	14,349	12,638	13.5%
	Cadillac Escalade ^	2467	1105	123%	9138	6782	34.7%
	Cadillac Escalade ESV ^	1427	688	107%	5162	4515	14.3%
	Cadillac Escalade EXT ^	---	182	-100%	49	1341	-96.3%
#6	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	3276	3092	6.0%	25,216	22,404	12.6%
#7	Chevrolet Corvette	3060	671	356%	20,804	6344	228%
#8	BMW X5	2688	2674	0.5%	25,126	24,133	4.1%
#9	Lexus GS	2001	1722	16.2%	12,123	10,790	12.4%
#10	Lexus GX460	1955	881	122%	12,231	5296	131%
#11	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	1920	577	233%	13,151	6788	93.7%
#12	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	1640	2165	-24.2%	13,366	17,111	-21.9%
#13	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	1614	752	115%	11,420	7947	43.7%
#14	Porsche Cayenne	1546	1563	-1.1%	10,259	11,082	-7.4%
#15	Audi Q7	1446	1328	8.9%	9881	7908	24.9%

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.
^ Escalade breakdown by variant
* 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 down 9.1% to 2717 in July.
In July, Infiniti sold 1340 copies of the Q50's predecessor, the G sedan, and 682 Q60s to go along with 2461 Q50s. Cadillac's new CTS - 2039 July sales - starts at $45,100, but the lingering CTS Coupe is a sub-$40K car, and the wagon starts at $42,195.

RECOMMENDED READING
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - August 2014
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - June 2014
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - July 2013

Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - July 2014
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In America - July 2014
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - July 2014
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings - July 2014 YTD