Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - March 2017

The Lexus RX took a 2% hit in March 2017, but America's best-selling luxury vehicle in 2016 once again leads the luxury sales race through the first-quarter of 2017. The Lexus RX outsold its nearest rival, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, by 1424 units in March. The second-ranked SUV/crossover was 3050 sales abaft.

---

U.S. Vehicle Sales By Model - April 2017 YTD

---

Mercedes-Benz, the leader of luxury auto sales in 2016 and in 2017 Q1, was outsold in March by BMW, where sales rose 3%. Thank the X3, ranked third overall, for much of that increase. BMW X3 volume grew 43%, or nearly 2000 units, in March 2017. With 3-Series  and 5-Series sales flat and surging X5 volume assisting, BMW finished March nearly 2000 sales ahead of Mercedes-Benz.

Click Chart To Expand

Among the 15 top-selling premium brand vehicles in America in March 2017, nine were utility vehicles.

Among the 15 top-selling vehicles with base prices above $50,000, 11 were SUVs/crossovers. 

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.

February 2017 • March 2016

Rank	Premium Brand Vehicle	March 2016	March 2016	%  Change	2017 YTD	2016 YTD	%  Change
#1	Lexus RX	9,445	9,648	-2.1%	21,641	23,796	-9.1%
#2	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	8,021	6,658	20.5%	20,619	17,839	15.6%
#3	BMW X3	6,395	4,476	42.9%	13,569	10,211	32.9%
#4	BMW 3-Series	6,197	6,218	-0.3%	14,637	14,100	3.8%
#5	Lexus NX	5,619	4,533	24.0%	12,097	11,375	6.3%
#6	Cadillac XT5	5,280	---	---	13,454	---	---
#7	Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class	4,919	4,730	4.0%	12,906	12,341	4.6%
#8	BMW X5	4,896	3,617	35.4%	12,072	10,043	20.2%
#9	Lexus ES	4,626	5,792	-20.1%	9,506	13,018	-27.0%
#10	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	4,510	3,695	22.1%	11,872	8,560	38.7%
#11	Audi Q5	4,382	3,728	17.5%	11,312	8,840	28.0%
#12	Acura MDX	4,141	4,088	1.3%	10,956	11,956	-8.4%
#13	Audi A4	4,062	3,403	19.4%	8,558	6,828	25.3%
#14	Infiniti QX60	3,821	3,905	-2.2%	8,668	9,007	-3.8%
#15	Infiniti Q50	3,800	5,590	-32.0%	10,450	11,868	-11.9%

For the purposes of the above list, premium brands include Acura, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Volvo. Brands like Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Lotus don't report specific monthly sales data.

Rank	Vehicles With Base Prices Above $50K	March  2016	March 2015	%  Change	2017 YTD	2016 YTD	%  Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class	4,919	4,730	4.0%	12,906	12,341	4.6%
#2	BMW X5	4,896	3,617	35.4%	12,072	10,043	20.2%
#3	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	4,510	3,695	22.1%	11,872	8,560	38.7%
#4	BMW 5-Series	3,161	3,157	0.1%	6,641	9,710	-31.6%
#5	Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class	2,938	858	242%	7,741	3,880	99.5%
#6	Cadillac Escalade	2,862	3,238	-11.6%	7,505	8,107	-7.4%
	Cadillac Escalade *	1,648	1,974	-16.5%	4,300	5,021	-14.4%
	Cadillac Escalade ESV *	1,214	1,264	-4.0%	3,205	3,086	3.9%
#7	GMC Yukon XL	2,849	2,427	17.4%	7,556	6,702	12.7%
#8	Audi Q7	2,660	3,004	-11.5%	7,548	6,993	7.9%
#9	Lexus GX	2,569	1,961	31.0%	5,514	5,219	5.7%
#10	Chevrolet Corvette	2,460	2,753	-10.6%	5,804	6,370	-8.9%
#11	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	2,251	2,507	-10.2%	5,993	5,552	7.9%
#12	Land Rover Range Rover	1,991	1,792	11.1%	5,512	4,805	14.7%
#13	Infiniti QX80	1,983	1,403	41.3%	5,355	4,054	32.1%
#14	Volvo XC90	1,671	3,000	-44.3%	4,568	7,847	-41.8%
#15	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	1,434	1,332	7.7%	3,648	4,167	-12.5%

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.

RECOMMENDED READING
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - February 2017
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - March 2016
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - March 2017
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In America - March 2017
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings - March 2017

Read More

Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - March 2017 YTD

Through the first one-sixth of 2017, Canadian auto sales had risen 3% compared with results during the same time frame in 2016, a significant increase given that 2016 was the best year ever for the Canadian auto industry.

Through the first one-quarter of 2017? With all-time record March sales in the third month of 2017, first-quarter sales rose 5% compared with the records set in 2016.

---

Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - March 2017
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In Canada - March 2017
Top 11 Best-Selling Pickup Trucks In Canada - March 2017

---

General Motors claimed top spot among automakers with more than 30,000 sales, the best March total for GM Canada since 2008. With modest gains from Ford Motor Company and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the industry soared 7% ahead of March 2016's pace, capitalizing  on huge light truck demand. Pickups, SUVs, crossovers, and vans accounted for 67% of the overall new vehicle market as passenger car volume dipped slightly. 

Ford remained the top-selling auto brand. Jaguar, Maserati, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Cadillac were the fastest-growing brands; Dodge and Nissan were the fastest-growing volume brands. Rare were the auto brands that didn't generate more sales in March 2017 – the best March ever for the Canadian auto industry – than in March 2016. Smart, Jeep, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Lincoln, and Ram stuck out like sore thumbs.

---

---

Claiming 7.2% of the overall market, the Ford F-Series was Canada's top-selling vehicle in March 2017.

Click Chart To Expand

The Honda Civic, the third-best-selling vehicle, jumped 37% to 8145 sales, tops among cars. The Dodge Grand Caravan led all minivans with 5459 sales, ahead of the top-selling SUV, Nissan's Rogue, which jumped 63% to 4888 units.

Don't like to see automakers arranged alphabetically? Click column headers to sort automakers by March sales, year-over-year change, year-to-date totals, or any other order. Best seller lists for cars, trucks, and SUVs will be added in the next few hours. In the coming days, GCBC will also publish a complete list of year-to-date sales for every single vehicle line, a list which includes brand results. To find out what you can expect, you can see the 2016 year end version of that post here. You can always find historical monthly and yearly sales figures for any brand by clicking the brand name in the table below or by selecting a make (or model) at GCBC's Sales Stats page. Mobile users can now thumb across the table for full-width access.

Click column headers to sort by specific categories. Using the mobile version of GoodCarBadCar? Switch to the web version at the bottom of the page, at which point columns should be sortable.
February 2017 • March 2016 • Updated at 9:31 PM AT on 04.06.2017

Rank	Automaker	March 2017	% Change	2017 YTD	% Change	March 2017 Market Share	YTD  Market Share
#21	Acura	1783	4.4%	4039	6.2%	1.0%	1.0%
#34	Alfa Romeo	26	73.3%	30	30.4%	0.0%	0.0%
#17	Audi	2985	6.4%	6887	17.6%	1.6%	1.6%
#35	Bentley	22	340%	49	277%	0.0%	0.0%
#16	BMW	3181	3.8%	7855	2.7%	1.7%	1.9%
#22	Buick	1702	17.5%	3815	32.7%	0.9%	0.9%
#25	Cadillac	1212	28.0%	2623	7.4%	0.6%	0.6%
#2	Chevrolet	17,412	21.4%	34,562	10.3%	9.3%	8.2%
#20	Chrysler	1842	9.4%	4119	2.5%	1.0%	1.0%
#8	Dodge	9362	26.7%	19,799	22.1%	5.0%	4.7%
#31	Fiat	468	107%	947	116%	0.2%	0.2%
#1	Ford	25,840	0.3%	61,005	2.0%	13.8%	14.5%
#36	Genesis	15	---	61	---	0.0%	0.0%
#7	GMC	9789	26.1%	20,248	12.6%	5.2%	4.8%
#3	Honda	17,392	18.7%	36,932	14.8%	9.3%	8.8%
#6	Hyundai	11,087	-14.7%	24,128	-13.2%	5.9%	5.7%
#24	Infiniti	1292	13.5%	2800	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%
#26	Jaguar	746	227%	1315	235%	0.4%	0.3%
#12	Jeep	5917	-26.6%	15,998	-14.1%	3.2%	3.8%
#11	Kia	6346	6.1%	13,775	-1.4%	3.4%	3.3%
#23	Land Rover	1369	1.7%	2537	-4.6%	0.7%	0.6%
#18	Lexus	2124	15.9%	4857	14.0%	1.1%	1.2%
#27	Lincoln	640	-5.2%	1665	1.9%	0.3%	0.4%
#32	Maserati	122	198%	371	342%	0.1%	0.1%
#10	Mazda	6942	14.8%	15,484	15.8%	3.7%	3.7%
#13	Mercedes-Benz ^	4747	11.9%	12,413	19.9%	2.5%	2.9%
#30	Mini	510	3.0%	1156	5.2%	0.3%	0.3%
#19	Mitsubishi	1896	-10.6%	4439	-10.5%	1.0%	1.1%
#5	Nissan	14,523	26.7%	30,836	13.2%	7.7%	7.3%
#28	Porsche	624	16.6%	1399	28.3%	0.3%	0.3%
#9	Ram	8916	-1.9%	23,196	-3.5%	4.8%	5.5%
#33	Smart	43	-83.7%	93	-80.6%	0.0%	0.0%
#14	Subaru	4652	10.4%	10,422	10.4%	2.5%	2.5%
#4	Toyota	17,282	0.1%	40,130	-2.5%	9.2%	9.5%
#15	Volkswagen	4176	-22.4%	10,311	-15.5%	2.2%	2.4%
#29	Volvo	576	1.1%	1271	1.0%	0.3%	0.3%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
	General Motors	30,115	22.9%	61,248	12.1%	16.1%	14.5%
	FCA/Chrysler Group	26,531	0.2%	64,089	1.1%	14.1%	15.2%
	Ford Motor Company	26,480	0.2%	62,670	2.0%	14.1%	14.9%
	Toyota Motor Corporation	19,406	1.6%	44,987	-1.0%	10.3%	10.7%
	Honda Motor Company	19,175	17.2%	40,971	13.9%	10.2%	9.7%
	Nissan Motor Company/Mitsubishi	17,712	20.3%	38,075	8.9%	9.4%	9.0%
	Hyundai-Kia	17,448	-8.1%	37,964	-9.1%	9.3%	9.0%
	Volkswagen  Group *	7807	-10.5%	18,646	-2.7%	4.2%	4.4%
	Daimler	4790	6.3%	12,506	15.5%	2.6%	3.0%
	BMW-Mini	3691	3.7%	9011	3.0%	2.0%	2.1%
	Jaguar-Land Rover	2115	34.4%	3852	26.2%	1.1%	0.9%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
---	Total	187,808	6.7%	422,306	4.5%

Source: Automakers, Desrosiers, Global Automakers Of Canada & ANDC 
Red font indicates declining year-over-year volume
* Does not include Lamborghini or Bentley
^ Excluding Sprinter/Metris: up 12.3% to 4747 in March; up 16.9% to 10,760 in Q1.
° Scion is discontinued, now part of Toyota.

RECOMMENDED READING
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - February 2017
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - 2016 Year End
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - March 2016
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In Canada - March 2017

Read More