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people are still buying pickups in droves. amazing. (It would have been nice to have a sum of total sales at the bottom.)
It would be interesting to know what percentagre of those pickups are being bought by commercial entities.
Just some observations:
I still can’t understand why anyone would buy a Toyota Corolla. Whenever I see the Kia spokesrodents pointing at a toaster or hamster wheel I immediately think, “Toyota Corolla.”
Stunned to see the Malibu is outselling the Fusion.
The Sonata would sell better if Hyundai could build them faster.
Toyota RAV4 sales must have driven off a cliff.
Not a single old school SUV on the list (Explorer, Yukon, Suburban, Durango, Sequoia, etc. etc. etc.) The times have sure changed!
Does Camry sales numbers include the Venza? Does Accord sales numbers include the Crosstour?
Five Chevy’s and five Fords on the list – dayum, wouldn’t have guessed that.
Econoline van sales – fleet sales bump from deferred corporate spending???
While not my cup of tea, I can see why the Corolla still sells. Some folks just want a basic Model T that won’t crap out before their loan is paid off.
Full sized pickups still have an allure for many of us. I only really need one four weeks out of the year to carry a slide-in camper, but also need a small 4 cylinder car to visit an ailing family member that is four states away. So, for now no pickup.
@HoldenSSVSE: The Corolla is a decent, efficient, reliable car, if boring. It’ll be nice to see if the Cruze (which IMO is much more attractive) will be able to put a dent in its market.
I think GM has been laying heavy on the fleet sales with the Malibu; GM’s been reporting car fleet numbers of 30-40% consistently this year and I think the Malibu and especially Imapla account for the bulk of that (usually I’d suspect the Cobalt but given the massive wind-down and generally low sales YTD I don’t think so)
Americans love pickups. Given that today’s pickups can be as nicely appointed as luxury sedans, and with the crew cabs offer very comfortable seating for five (or six with a front bench) I think some people have moved from more traditional SUVs to crew cab pickups, I know I have seen it on the sales floor.
The Corolla sales confuse me too. Given that most of the vehicles in the class are very reliable, and that aside from the outgoing Cobalt, the Corolla is the least appealing in the lot, I’m not sure why so many people are jumping on them other than Toyota’s reputation and very subsidized lease deals that Toyota pushes on that model. The local Toyota dealer likes to advertise a 5 year lease for $89/month on the Corolla, and a lot of people go for it.
Econoline sales are 90%+ fleet and have been for years since the demise of the conversion van industry. No one buys a new Econoline for a personal vehicle, they aren’t marketed or designed for that. The high fleet numbers aren’t a bad thing for these vans, like the Chevy Express or Dodge (or is it Mercedes now?) Sprinter, these are commercial purpose built vehicles.
I’m guessing that these people don’t do much research and just hear that Corollas are the best.
gsnfan,
or the Corolla is just what they are looking for. Maybe they’ve owned 1 or 2 or 3 in the past.
Or maybe their family members have. It is the most sold car, like approx. ever. Not everyone is an enthusiast. The masses don’t want, or need to take corners at 80mph.
I had an opportunity to drive the Corolla and Civic last month on back to back weekends as rentals. I never cared for the Civic’s appearance, but after driving it, I was impressed. I would absolutely consider one as a daily driver. The Corolla, now that seemed just like a rental car.
The Corolla sells to the descendants of the people who, in the 1960s and eary 1970s, bought Dodge Darts and Plymouth Valiants/Dusters. It’s reliable – moreso than the Cobalt and the Focus – reasonably comfortable and does what it’s supposed to do without much fuss.
Chrysler/Dodge/Ram doesn’t make the list until #12, and it’s a pretty distant third place for trucks. Yikes.
Sonata sales appear to be ramping up, since August’s volume is about 1/6 of its YTD volume rather than 1/8. If it stays on track through the rest of 2010, it could climb from #11 to #6 or 7.
Cue the rabid fanboi rant about the Ford F-series being inferior to the GM offerings despite outselling the Silverado and Sierra combined…
With Ford’s current lead, I hate to think what will happen once the F-150 gets its new engines out.
People might prefer the GM 4.8L to the Ford 3.7L as long as gas prices stay down, but in every other place the GM trucks are going to take a beating. They need to upgrade the Vortec line soon.
The T&C is the bestselling minivan on the market? My money would have been on the Dodge Grand Caravan.
Not too many sporty cars on the list. :(
Chrysler ought to eliminate either the Town & Country or the Caravan nameplate, and provide the ability for buyers to either buy a cheaper T&C or a higher-end Caravan.
I always thought they should consolidate onto the Caravan brand and let T&C be the upscale trim level.
Boff,
Both of those nameplates have a lot of brand equity in the marketplace. While the T&C nameplate predates the minivan, going back to the fancy woody wagons, minivan=Caravan in the minds of many consumers. Also, selling the T&C as a separate nameplate makes it easier to sell the less well equipped Caravan without it seeming decontented. This branding strategy lets them cover both the middle class and the upper middle class with the same basic vehicle. If you drop the Town & Country brand, the people who buy a T&C might be less likely to buy the same vehicle branded as a Caravan, and if you drop the Caravan name, then you’re going to have to have a decontented T&C for the budget conscious and that’s going to damage the T&C brand & lower avg resale value for that nameplate.
Yeah I get that…but the Grand Caravan massively outsells the T&C in cheapskate Canada. My daughter counted 12 Grand Caravans between her school and our house alone! Of course, we do live in Windsor…
My money would have been on the Toyota or Honda. Chrysler’s minis seem to have become all but invisible around here (New England) since the last redesign. The next ones need to be a huge home run, the sooner the better.
Can someone explain why GMC exists? You could just as easily offer the existing GMC stores a Chevy franchise and a deal on front clips—it’d be cheaper.
The only reason I can figure is that GM wanted to kill off Pontiac, but if they got rid of GMC as well, all of the standalone Pontiac/GMC/Buick dealers (of which there aren’t an insignificant number) would have been starved for product to sell.
GMC has been, and continues to be, the most pointless brand on the market, and it will likely go away within the next ten years once Buick’s lineup is fully expanded.
Here’s the bit that I don’t get: instead of the politically problematic option of closing dealers, why not allow each dealer to sell the full suite of products** and let attrition do it’s thing?
Why couldn’t a BPG or L-M dealer sell Chevrolets or Fords?
Why wouldn’t they keep GMC division? They’re comprised of high (crossovers) and higher (Sierra) profit lines; no rebadged little cars that Chevrolet loses its shirt on every time.
They are making small efforts to distinguish the two truck lines, with different hoods and bodysides. Nothing to write home about, but not analogous to, say, the 58 Packard either.
As the demise of Olds proved, orphans of a GM division do not automatically go buy from another GM division.
Let’s not advise GM to downsize itself into extinction. It needs profits, and GMC division provides them.
Fun fact: Sierra sells in about the same numbers as Silverado in Canada.
psar –
A lot of it probably has to do with the contracts the various dealership owners have with the manufacturer. It likely differs some state to state (or province) and OEM to OEM, but Ford has dealers who own a certain territory. If Bill Brasky has a Ford dealership in Springfield, and owns the rights to Simpson county, if Ford wants another dealership in the county, they have to give Bill Brasky the first chance to build it. If there is a Lincoln-Mercury dealership already in the county, they can’t offer that dealer the rights to add Ford since it would violate Bill’s franchisee rights.
I’m assuming GM has a pretty similar system. The local Chevy dealer wouldn’t want the local Buick/GMC dealer to suddenly add Chevy because that would create a cross town price war. There are big markets where there are more than one type of dealership in the same town, but I’m guessing that the original dealer either didn’t want to add a second franchise, or never had the option to get first rights in their contract.
When GM killed off Olds, it lost 80% its customer to other car makes. It’s cheap enough to bolt on different body pieces on a Silverado to keep from PO loyal GMC buyers who will never forgive GM.
Here’s the bit that I don’t get: instead of the politically problematic option of closing dealers, why not allow each dealer to sell the full suite of products** and let attrition do it’s thing?
Now that is certainly some free market type of thinking! It also kinda seems like common sense too. Unfortunately in our world, there is no room for either.
Yes, but that’s Olds; they offered—in a way GMC doesn’t but Saturn did—a reasonably distinct product. Would GMC customers defect to Ford, Dodge…er..Ram or Toyota? Really?
Destinct models are expensive to produce as opposed to cosmetic changes or badge engineering. Some of GMC’s loyalists prefer the Sierra’s looks while other’s are into GMC for the marque.
If GM had killed off Pontiac in the 80’s let’s say, do you think most Trans Am loyalists would’ve just switched over to Chevy Camaros as if nothing happened?
Wow.
One of my very favorite cas doesn’t even show…the Mazda6.
Wow…I give up on the American consumer.
To hell with them.
Mazda and Suzuki both seem to be on life support at this time. The 6 is a very nice car for several reasons.
I think Mazda’s problems have many roots, including its relationship with Ford and its slavish dedication to the rotary, both of which I suspect sucked resources away from building cars they could actually sell.
Their recent Pixar-inspired goofy grin designs probably aren’t helping. They even managed to ruin the Miata.
I am curious if there is a web site that contains the demographic makeup of each of the cars that Auto Makers sale. For example what is the demographic makeup of F150 buyers, or Ford Fusion buyers. I know that Auto Makers spend a great deal of money on demographic surveys as it helps them to know how to target and create commericals for specific targeted buyers.
Also, it still amazes me that the F150 continues to be the best selling vehicle in the country and that the factory is producing over 300,000 of them a year. The ability to produce so many vehicles with very little problems is an enginering and production marvel.
Ed,
Did you miss the RAV? I think sales have been quite steady for that model… or not?
I’d take ANY Mazda over any of the top 10 models on that list any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Americans are weird.
Why are two completely different models- the Sub Legacy & Outback- combined?
I haven’t looked closely at the current models, but in every previous generation, they’ve been the same car.
If GM ever discontinues the Impala, it is going to take nerves of steel. If they all went to the Malibu, they’d be in clover. But that’s a big risk. I’d keep that sucker around if I was them.
The F-Series includes F-450s and F-550s while Silverados only go up to 3500s.
Well, that makes all the difference!