January 2013 Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America

This 2013 BMW 320i Starts At $32,550, Although This Melbourne Red Paint
Adds $550 And Optioning Up From Leatherette To Leather Costs $1450. The Only Non-M
3-Series Sedan With A Base Price Above $45,000 Is The 335i xDrive, At $45,150

In order to better display which cars well-off Americans are buying, GoodCarBadCar has severely altered the format of the monthly U.S. best-selling luxury vehicles list. The format is explained below the table, but it should be noted that the main reason for exploring this new way of defining "luxury" is based more on cost and less on alleged brand image. In fact, it's based exclusively on cost and not at all on brand image.

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When Americans choose to spend at least 50% more than the average new car buyer spends, the money is often spent on a Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Compared with January 2012, E-Class sales rose 34% last month. Buyers choose between a sedan, coupe, convertible, and wagon. Mercedes-Benz USA also sold 553 CLS-Class sedans in January, a decline of 5%. Audi sold 698 A7 hatchbacks to go along with 1259 A6 sedans.

The BMW X5 outsold the Mercedes-Benz M-Class by 1156 units in January as X5 sales shot up 57% and M-Class sales fell 27%. The X5 was thus America's "best-selling" luxury SUV, although the inclusion of less costly premium brand utilities would show the $39,660-$46,310 Lexus RX at 5394 sales. As for less expensive premium brand cars outselling the pricey ones in this group, Mercedes-Benz's own C-Class ($35,350-$62,330) posted an 11% jump to 7214 sales in January 2013.

All 247 Vehicles Ranked By January 2013 Sales

GCBC has already posted lists of America's 20 best-selling passenger cars, America's 20 best-selling SUVs and crossovers, and figures for every truck, best sellers and poor sellers alike. You can find historic monthly and yearly sales figures for the 15 costly vehicles from the table below and for every other vehicle on sale in America by accessing the dropdown menu at GCBC's Sales Stats home.

Rank	Luxury Vehicle  (Min. Base  Price $45,000)	January 2013	% Change	Year  To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Mercedes-Benz E-Class	5469	+ 33.5%	5469	+ 33.5%
#2	BMW X5	4084	+ 56.5%	4084	+ 56.5%
#3	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	2928	- 26.8%	2928	- 26.8%
#4	BMW 5-Series	2585	- 19.6%	2585	- 19.6%
#5	Mercedes-Benz GL-Class	2015	+ 25.2%	2015	+ 25.2%
#6	Cadillac Escalade	1547	- 4.7%	1547	- 4.7%
#7	Porsche Cayenne	1500	+ 51.1%	1500	+ 51.1%
#8	Audi A6	1259	+ 11.4%	1259	+ 11.4%
#9	Land Rover  Range Rover Sport	1251	+ 10.8%	1251	+ 10.8%
#10	Infiniti QX56	1168	+ 14.5%	1168	+ 14.5%
#11	Land Rover Range Rover	1156	+ 88.0%	1156	+ 88.0%
#12	Lexus GS	1099	+ 1082%	1099	+ 1082%
#13	Lexus LS	1077	+ 88.0%	1077	+ 88.0%
#14	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	938	+ 19.5%	938	+ 19.5%
#15	Chevrolet Corvette	908	+ 44.4%	908	+ 44.4%

Source: Manufacturers & ANDC
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales
$45,000 USD (before delivery) is an arbitrary borderline, but if GCBC was to follow this new 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 this list, we know that none of the registrations were of cars priced at $32,550, as would be the case with the new BMW 320i, which costs less than a Honda Accord V6 Touring. The list has been cut from 30 to 15 - 30 "best sellers" would have made up a large portion of the 50-odd vehicles on sale in America with base prices above $45,000 and would have therefore diluted the "best-selling" message. The biggest problem with a $45,000 minimum price of entry? Cars like the Cadillac XTS, which starts at $44,075, and SUVs like the $44,655 GMC Yukon XL.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 15 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - February 2013
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - 2012 Year End
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - December 2012
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings - January 2013
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - January 2012
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - January 2013