IF SALES of new vehicles are supposed to be down in Australia, no one told the cashed-up buyers of big, beefy and luxurious SUVs costing more than $100,000.

To the end of May, sales of these upper-large luxury land yachts are up a healthy 47 per cent on the same period of last year, even though the overall new-vehicle market has declined 8.1 per cent.

The segment is out of step with the overall SUV market in which sales have declined 4.6 per cent this year as demand plateaus after years of rampant growth.

Many of the buyers for flagship SUVs appear to be coming from similar $100,000-plus upper-large passenger cars, sales of which are down 40 per cent this year.

If we extrapolate the year-to-date 47 per cent growth rate in upper-large luxury SUVs to the end of 2019, sales could threaten 3000 units for the first time.

The biggest trigger in the sales expansion of the biggest SUV breed has been the arrival of several fresh models, including all-new entries such as the BMW X7 and Audi Q8.

In 2011, when the official VFACTS data started breaking out upper-large luxury SUV sales as a separate segment from large SUVs, the segment had just four contenders – the Range Rover, the Lexus LX and two Mercedes-Benz models, the G-Class and GL-Class.

The class of 2019 has 11 entries, including the super-expensive Rolls-Royce Cullinan, Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus.

Levelling up: In line with the rest of its segment, the Range Rover upper-large SUV’s sales have exploded this year, up 64.9 per cent to 183 units.

Rather than take sales from the existing SUV combatants, the arrival of new contestants appears to have spiced sales of even the oldest models, with sales of the LandCruiser-based Lexus LX up 23.1 per cent, to 197 units, and the Range Rover jumping by a whopping 64.9 per cent, to 183 units.

Sales of the utilitarian Mercedes G-Class have rocketed 243 per cent, to 158 units in the year to date, after it came out fighting in AMG-enhanced G63 twin-turbo V8 form after major revisions last year.

While the traditional contenders still hold sway at the top of the segment sales rankings, the newbies are fast closing the gap. The BMW X7 started with a bang in May, with a shipload of 152 units registered in a single month.

The X7 and Audi Q8 (in showrooms since January) are now locked at 174 and 172 sales respectively.

And these manufacturers have not finished yet, with both promising to add high-performance variants in the twin-turbo V8 petrol X7 M50i late this year and the V8 diesel Audi SQ8 in the first half of 2020.

BMW X7

While rival Mercedes has been doing nicely with the G-Glass and G-Wagon, its luxury flagship GLS has gone into hiatus while an all-new model goes into production.

No GLS units were sold in May, leaving the 2019 tally at 136, where it will probably stay until the thoroughly reworked version arrives in Australian showrooms late this year. Then it will be game on.

At Infiniti, the big V8 QX80 – based on Nissan’s Patrol – is one of the fringe players, but even it has enjoyed a fill-up in 2019, with sales increasing 79 per cent, to 43 units.

Of the top-end players, Lamborghini’s Urus that was launched last year leads the way, with 39 sales in the year to date, followed by the Bentley Bentayga on 32.

In a class of its own, the new $685,000 Rolls-Royce Cullinan has achieved five sales this year, with two of them in May.

By Ron Hammerton