10 Top-Selling Luxury SUVs

Demand continues to increase for the top-selling luxury suvs in the country. That’s the key takeaway from today’s article, which is based on the sales numbers through June — the halfway point of the 2018 selling season. We’ve got all the segments covered, too, since we’re showcasing best-sellers from the subcompact, compact, mid-size, and full-size size classes.

The best-selling luxury SUVs represent an impressively wide variety of vehicles with an equally impressive range of capabilities. Of course, they also serve up plenty of premium content, including high-quality materials, high-performance powertrains, and high-tech infotainment, and safety systems.

When you look deeper at the numbers, many of the biggest sales gains have come for the bigger sport-utility vehicles. Indeed, many of the top-selling luxury suvs from the subcompact segment are actually losing ground this year. Consider the 2018 BMW X1. Although it’s the No. 1 seller in its category, volume slipped by 6.2 percent for June 2018. That said, the X1’s year-to-date sales are running 9.2 percent ahead of their pace from 2017. BMW has sold 16,248 X1 vehicles through the end of June, thanks to the model's combination of premium performance and practicality.

Highlights here range from standard features like a 228-horsepower turbocharged engine and 58.7 cubic feet of cargo space to options that include BMW's xDrive all-wheel drive and heated leather seats.

Sales volume has also slipped for the 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA — it fell by 17.25 percent in June, when customers purchased 1,722 of them. However, also like the BMW, the Mercedes is in black on a year-to-date basis. The brand has delivered 12,162 GLAs through the first six months of 2018, up 17.4 percent versus last year.

No doubt helping matters, the GLA gets new styling and additional high-tech safety features this year. True, the base model isn’t quite as powerful or roomy as the X1. Yet the GLA is the one that can supply real poplar or ash wood trim. Another Mercedes exclusive: a 375-horsepower engine for the AMG model.

The 2018 Q3 is the only best-selling subcompact luxury suv whose sales increased in June. During that month, consumer demand jumped by over 10 percent, and the Q3 outsold the Mercedes-Benz GLA by nearly 200 units. For the year so far, Q3 sales have advanced by more than 17 percent on the strength of 10,636 deliveries.

What’s driving this popularity? The Q3 offers 48.2 cubic feet of storage — a bit more than the GLA — plus Audi hallmarks ranging from LED headlights to Quattro all-wheel drive. The Q3 can also provide a competitive level of high-end content, led by a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, walnut-wood inlays, and a standard panoramic roof.

Like many of the top-selling luxury suvs, the 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLC — which leads the premium compact segment — bundles the sales from multiple models into its one grand total. In this case, deliveries for both the GLC SUV and its stylish GLC Coupe variant are combined, as are the sales for the high-powered AMG GLC. The bottom line for June: a 78 percent spike in demand and 6,608 units sold.

This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, though. The GLC’s sales are up 77 percent for the entire first half of the year. It’s now hit well over 35,000 sales in 2018. Trying to tally its many luxe features is tougher, but among the highlights are heated and ventilated front seats and an in-cabin fragrance system.

Another top-selling compact luxury suv is the 2018 Audi Q5. For the Q5, sales over the first six months of the year — 28,672 in total — are up by 12.4 percent. This comes after customers took home 4,728 units in June. Compared to the same month in 2017, those numbers mark an improvement of 5.8 percent.

The 2018 Q5 lineup, including its 354-horsepower SQ5 edition, has been fully redesigned. With that in mind, it boasts some of the latest Audi technologies, from a 12.3-inch “virtual cockpit” instrument panel to mobile Wi-Fi to a 19-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system. A practical advantage is the Q5’s Mercedes-beating 60.4 cubic feet of cargo capacity.

Proving that not all the top-selling luxury suvs are from the German brands, the 2018 Lexus NX is close behind the Q5 in the compact category. Lexus reported 4,462 NX sales in June, up 5.8 percent. The NX owns a 10.2 percent boost in volume at the halfway mark of the selling season. At this stage, customers have added 28,672 NX vehicles to U.S. roadways in 2018. 

This success is proof positive that folks are attracted to the vehicle’s refreshed styling, along with the many other updates for this model year. Already offering upscale cues like climate-controlled seats and signature LED lighting, the NX welcomes mobile Wi-Fi, a hands-free rear liftgate and, as standard equipment, the Lexus Safety System+.

With its mid-size dimensions, the 2018 Lexus RX is a perennial favorite for sport-utility customers. In fact, it’s No. 1 among the top-selling luxury suvs of any size. RX sales moved ahead another 5.3 percent in June, as dealers sold 8,854 units. The RX also broke the 50,000-sales mark in the last month of the first half of the year. This has pushed its year-to-date results up by more than 7 percent.

Meanwhile, the RX itself continues to push the envelope for uplevel SUVs. For instance, in a typical Lexus touch, the brand has launched a new premium package for the 2018 RX 450h hybrid model. It blends luxurious cabin appointments with EPA ratings of 31 mpg city/28 mpg highway/30 mpg combined.

Cadillac’s mid-size XT5 is another best-seller in its category. It posted an 11.6 percent sales gain in June, and with the first half of the selling season now complete, total sales are up by more than 7 percent. Cadillac sold 5,682 XT5s last month and was approaching 32,000 sales in all as of this writing.

One reason for this surge in popularity: a new technology that can tell when other vehicles are approaching the XT5. Cadillac’s available rear camera mirror can display a live video feed from a rear-facing camera to increase visibility by about 300 percent. The XT5 also checks in with mobile Wi-Fi, LED lights, climate-controlled seats, and more of Cadillac’s creature comforts.

Despite its position as one of the country’s top-selling luxury SUVs, the 2018 BMW X5 endured a 5.1 percent fall in volume in June. That month, the X5 finished third in the mid-size premium SUV segment with 4,335 sales. Overall, X5 sales are up very slightly for the first six months of 2018. The vehicle’s 24,376 deliveries during that time are 0.9 percent more than for the same period in 2017.

But that does make sense: People may be waiting for the all-new 2019 BMW X5 that scheduled to go on sale Nov. 10, 2018. When that model debuts, it will be available with ultra-lux goodies like adaptive LED headlights, dual 12.3-inch digital displays, a 20-speaker audio system, and even heated and cooled cupholders.

There was no surprise when we counted the top-selling luxury SUVs with body-on-frame construction. Setting the pace is the 2018 Cadillac Escalade, which has been on quite the roll during the first half of the year. After a further 3,218 deliveries in June — an increase of 48.5 percent — the Escalade’s first-half sales total stood at 16,927 units. That works out to a 66.6 percent improvement.

Speaking of work, the Escalade can rely on a standard 6.2-liter V8, plus its rugged frame, for a towing maximum of 8,300 pounds. Yet you can still enjoy maximum luxury with climate-controlled massage-function front seats, heated second-row seats, a power-folding third row, and a standard heated and leather-wrapped steering wheel with a power-adjustable column.