America's 10 Fastest Growing Vehicles: October 2014 YTD Sales

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

The Chevrolet Corvette is the fastest growing auto nameplate in America through the first ten months of 2014.

Four of the other members of this list of America’s fastest growing vehicles are also General Motors products.

Corvette volume is up 146% this year, an improvement of 17,150 units. Two other nameplates, the Lexus GX and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, have both doubled their October 2013 year-to-date volume.

Thorough redesigns certainly play a big role, as the Corvette, S-Class, Lexus IS, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade are all freshly revamped models. The Lexus GX460 wasn’t a new product for MY2015, but Lexus did update the GX while making a conscious decision to more actively pursue sales in a market that’s increasingly leaning toward SUVs and crossovers. The same could be said for the Toyota 4Runner.

As for the mostly forgotten Infiniti QX50, formerly the EX, its presence in this group basically adds fuel to an embarrassing fire. The EX debuted nearly seven years ago and, aside from a single powertrain upgrade and a name change, has undergone little in terms of re-engineering. An increase of 45% in 2014 points us not to a sudden uptick in sales but 2013’s downturn. Last year, the QX50/EX tumbled 38%. Sales had fallen 42% in 2012 and 28% in 2011 and have never been higher than the 12,873 units Infiniti achieved in its first full year, 2008. Acura will sell more than 40,000 RDXs this year.

But a list of the fastest growing nameplates shouldn’t be filled with Infiniti doom and gloom. The Corvette, one of Detroit’s most iconic machines, will generate more than 30,000 sales in 2014, the first such occasion since 2007. True blue off-road enthusiasts can get excited about the surge of interest in the 4Runner – year-to-date sales have already reached a seven-year high. Ruthless executives will be pleased by the S-Class’s surge. S-Class volume hasn’t been this strong in eight years.

RankAuto10 Months 201410 Months 2013% Change+ Difference#1 Chevrolet Corvette 28,90911,759145.8%17,150#2 Lexus GX460 17,9358,603108.5%9,332#3 Mercedes-Benz S-Class 19,5819,539105.3%10,042#4 GMC Savana 24,20012,58592.3%11,615#5 Lexus IS 40,80925,63059.2%15,179#6 Buick Encore 41,21326,53255.3%14,681#7 GMC Yukon 33,66121,92853.5%11,733#8 Cadillac Escalade (Regular Wheelbase) 15,09510,02250.6%5,073#9 Toyota 4Runner 61,58241,84447.2%19,738#10 Infiniti QX50/EX 2,3081,58845.3%720

We have not included vehicles which weren’t on sale throughout 2013. (The Buick Encore went on sale in January of last year.) We’ve also measured the vehicles on a percentage scale. If measured by volume, the Infiniti QX50’s paltry 720 extra sales would not be sufficient to crack a fastest-growing list. For the record, many of America’s best-selling vehicles have generated far greater additional sales in 2014’s first ten months. The Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Silverado, Honda Accord, Kia Soul, Nissan Rogue, Nissan Sentra, Nissan Versa, Ram P/U, Subaru Forester, Toyota Corolla, and Toyota RAV4 have all added more sales than the Toyota 4Runner, this vehicle which, among vehicles on this list, most greatly expanded its volume.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.

Timothy Cain
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  • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Nov 30, 2014

    GMC Savana sales are up due to traditional van buyers being wary of the Eurovans from Ford and FCA. E series are being fazed out so this isn't a surprise. GMC Yukon - 40-50% are to fleets. The Crown Vic was the police and fleet queen........No more Crown Vic........ I see a ton of Tahoe's in police garb. Is that a coincidence? Toyota 4Runner - people like the ruggedness of a smaller BOF SUV or more specifically the PERCEPTION of ruggedness. That is the same reason why I see Wrangler Unlimited's all over the place. 99% will never see more than a dirt road to the cottage.

    • Highdesertcat Highdesertcat on Nov 30, 2014

      Many USPS contractors in MY area drive Wranglers in the winter/snow months, and mini-vans during the warmer/dryer summer months.

  • Stuntmonkey Stuntmonkey on Nov 30, 2014

    Not to be a pest, but I am going to be "that guy." The meaning of the post title "10 fastest growing vehicles" is obvious the best and brightest, but still reads as if the cars are expanding literally, not figuratively.

    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Dec 01, 2014

      In that case, the article would be listing the Altima, which grew from compact to midsize, and the RAV4, which morphed from a Suzuki Samurai clone to a Forester fighter. I don't think you have to be the B&B to know what the writer meant. If the B&B were that far ahead of the average Joe, we'd have formed a secret society with initiation rites and a secret handshake by now.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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