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Say what you want about Toyota’s recent struggles, it still knows how to sell the bejeezus out of its C-segment Corolla/Matrix juggernaut. Toyota’s compact twosome outsold its next closest competitor by more volume than the Kia Forte sold on its own. Chevy’s Cruze is also sneaking up on Civic (please note: Feb 2010 volume for Cruze is actually Cobalt), and VW’s new Jetta is streaking up the charts, landing Volkswagen’s C-segment offerings into fourth place (Golf made up only 2,337 of that volume). Elantra and Sentra are neck-and-neck, although look for Nissan’s aging compact to be leapfrogged by both Hyundai and Ford when fully ramped-up volumes of the new Elantra and Focus hit dealers.
38 Comments on “Sales: Compact Cars, February 2011...”
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This is where the real action is. I’m glad to see the Cruze is doing well. I like what I saw at the Chicago and Cleveland auto shows. I found the Cruze to be comfortable and well laid out.
That being said, the new Elantra is a smoker. If I was tasked with selling Corollas, Civics, etc., I’d be very, very afraid. 40mpg regardless of the configuration, good looks, a great interior, and competitive pricing makes the Elantra a real game changer.
I agree the Elantra is a great car for this segment. I just wish people would not fetishize 40mpg – it is only for highway and an EPA estimate. In real world driving I am sure the new Focus (38 highway I think) and the Elantra would be essentially the same.
Also even if you drive 15000 miles and gas is $5 a 1mpg difference is only $50 a year – so 39 is hardly crap!
Thanks for presenting this factual data.
Interesting how some on here lambasted the Cruze yet it is 3rd and nearly overtaking the Civic (yes the Civic will be “all new” later this year but…).
Also interesting how some criticized VW’s Jetta strategy – seems the boys in Wolfsburg correctly pegged the “average” American consumer and now it is fourth.
Maybe some of the B&B don`t know it all! And if life was fair the Mazda 3 would do better but we know how that plays out.
Odd how the Canadian Market is so different.
The Elantra was the best selling car in Canada last month. It is #6 the USA just among compacts.
Yeah, the difference between the two markets is very striking. The Mazda3 is another example. It matches the Civic for sales in Canada, yet is near the bottom in the U.S.. You have to go to the middle range of the top ten before you even see a mid-size sedan in Canada as well. Very interesting contrast.
The Cruze looks to be a competent car all around, the interior is pretty nice, and the styling looks very good in person. It’s a good sign that people are willing to spend a little bit more for a quality compact car, so congrats to GM for taking the chance to build one instead of giving us Cavalier V. 3.0.
I don’t think the Corolla has anything to worry about from the Cruze, Elantra, Focus, or any other car in this segment. The current Corolla is outclassed by pretty much everything else in the segment, but it still sells in huge numbers on name alone (and crazy Toyota lease deals certainly don’t hurt either).
Looking at this chart compared to the subcompact chart, I wonder if the Kia Forte isn’t a bit of a victim of the Soul. Even though the Soul rides on a shorter wheelbase and somehow becomes a subcompact compared to the Forte, the Soul has much more rear seat space, more cargo space, and similar fuel economy for a similar price. If I were visiting a Kia dealership looking for a small car, I know which one of the two would grab my attention more.
Look for the Focus to disappear from this chart altogether next month. 2011 Focus inventory is all but gone at most dealers, and from what I’ve heard the 2012 models won’t start arriving until April.
Dude, what are you thinking? Everyone knows someone who has a two hundred thousand mile Corolla. Sometimes, more. That is why everyone wants one. Corolla has outclassed all others. But, it is possible the new Civic will be the new class leader. That is my bet.
While the Japanese keep building engineering two hundred mile cars with four speed transmissions, Domestics will keep building one hundred thousand mile cars with six speeds. The Japanese will win this game and the Domestic engineers will scratch their heads and wonder why the six speeds don’t sell better than a four speed Corolla.
Well, I don’t know anyone with a 200,000 mile Corolla, but I don’t doubt that they exist. On the same note, this month I’ve taken in trade two Jeep Grand Cherokees, one well over 200,000 miles, one near it, a 200,000+ miles Explorer, and a 180,000 mile Lincoln Continental.
I have heard more stories about Corollas that have lived long lives despite not having the oil changed but once every 20,000 miles, along with other stories of misuse and abuse, but pretty much any modern car can live close to 200,000 miles, or even beyond, if you pay attention to the basic required maintenance.
All of that is a bit irrelevant to most new car buyers however. If they trade, like many do, every three to four years with well under 100,000 miles on the odometer, it doesn’t matter how likely a car is to last 200,000 miles, that’s more of a question that used car buyers ask when they are looking at cars that already have 100,000 miles on them.
The Corolla sells because people who don’t particularly know or care about cars know the name, and they can get one very cheap on a lease, or still well priced on a purchase. It isn’t fancy, it doesn’t offer a lot when it comes to a rewarding driving experience, the interior is cramped and made of poor quality materials compared with others in the same class, but for someone who doesn’t care, there is nothing really objectionable or polarizing about it. If you wanted an example of just a generic ‘car’ the Corolla would be a fine example.
Which, you know, is probably OK, I mean, not everyone has to care about cars. Fashionistas would probably be aghast that I buy my pants at Wal-Mart, but I see clothes as a means of covering my nudity, as a necessity, not as something fun or desirable. Everyone has their own priorities, and Toyota has done a fine job positioning the Corolla as a vehicle to appeal to the lowest common denominator who just wants a car that goes from point a to point b with no muss, no fuss, and no drama.
As a competing salesman, no doubt you’ve developed that unique condescending attitude toward Corolla (and Camry) buyers after losing so many sales to those cars.
You find acceptance of the weaker sales situation but at the same time feel a sense of superiority, nice.
As a competing salesman, no doubt you’ve developed that unique condescending attitude toward Corolla (and Camry) buyers after losing so many sales to those cars.
It’s either that, or he has driven them!
fleetofwheels
How about this, I have driven all these cars, except for the new Elantra and Caiiber, and The Corolla is the weakest of the bunch. The Forte even feel livelier, and that’s the car that challenges it most directly on price and features. It’s not us, it’s the car.
What’s really puzzling about the Corolla’s sales success is that the interior is weak also. They really are moving these on brand reputation and financing.
Fleet –
As Tedward mentions, it really isn’t difficult to take the sale from the Toyota dealership when a customer is actually cross shopping the vehicles. In my experience, those who have stopped at Toyota first generally get walked around the car and told ‘you should buy it because it’s a Toyota’. When I show them a Fusion, Focus, Taurus, whatever, let them feel how it drives, demonstrate how useful Sync is, and show the features that Ford offers that Toyota doesn’t, I tend to earn the majority of that business. It’s the people who go to the Toyota dealership, buy the car on the ‘It’s a Toyota!’ line and never even look elsewhere that I lose, because I never get the chance.
To a degree I can’t blame those people. Obviously it makes sense to do a bit of cross shopping with a purchase as major as a new car, but if they’ve had good luck with Toyotas in the past, and expect the same experience with a new one, there is something to be said with going with the known entity. We are Ford dealers have had the same experience with pickup buyers for a long time, people know and trust the F-150 as the gold standard amongst fullsize pickups, and as long as they had a good experience with their last one, they go straight to it for their next one. The good news is that with Ford paying a lot of attention to the car line these days, the quality and reliability of the cars has gone up dramatically, to the point where those that take the chance on the Fusion/Focus/Taurus/Fiesta/Mustang/whatever are going to be much more likely to come to us first in the future.
Toyota did a great job building a reputation for quality during the years when Ford, GM, and Chrysler were pretty much pumping out junk when it came to cars. Ford has been earning that reputation for quality back the past several years, and GM is now on their way as well. The D3 didn’t lose their ‘go to’ status to Toyota overnight, and they won’t win it back overnight either, but when the cars are competitive and appealing to those who take the time to look, that’s an important step. The second major factor will be the vehicles lasting as long as the Toyotas of old, and we are certainly well on the way there too. In another ten years it’s entirely possible that the defacto standard for a no hassle reliable vehicle could be Ford or GM instead of Toyota.
Nullomodo
I’ll go a step further even, I don’t see a car on this list (besides the Caliber, but that might be b/c I just haven’t checked) that is unreliable by any measure. We might very well be entering a period where there are 9 or 10 reliable choices in the 2 most important segments, and, as evidenced by even the Jetta & Elantra emerging as real players (with competitive CR scores crucially), consumers might just be catching on. With new entries and updates storming the mid/full class as well, I think the trend is spreading.
But like you said, Toyota’s not going to be knocked off their pedestal by any one (or two, or three) generations of vehicles, it’s going to take time and test drives. Luckily for everyone else Toyota still isn’t very good at the test drive and the salesmen I’ve seen show all the faults that made domestics so infamous over the last 30 years (high pressure, negative approach to competitors and a low content presentation). The door is open.
@NulloModo: These last two posts are one of the reasons why you’re one of my favorite posters on this board. I like a guy that can reason with others without having to resort to insults.
20 years ago, I was hawking new Toyotas, and I found the Corolla (and at that time the Tercel) to be wanting in many areas. Like you mentioned, people had ‘good’ experiences with them and would buy another, but I wasn’t that enthusiastic about them. Besides, the real money was in pickup trucks. ;)
My brother has a 94 Corolla DX with 225k hard miles on it. He’s not kind to his car and maintenance is real low on his list of priorities since he is perpetually broke. He got it with 150k on it in 2006 and so far it’s held up to the abuse. It’s definitely showing its age, but is still chugging along.
The Corolla and Yaris are just about the most maligned models in their respective classes by auto publications (as well as on auto message boards).
According to reports (Edmunds, Autonews), Toyota dumped an inordinate no. of Corollas into fleet in January; wouldn’t be surprised if Toyota did the same for February.
As for the relative low sales of the Forte, it has a no. of things working against it.
As NulloModo stated, Kia has a popular cute-box alternative, the Soul, which is really appealing (sales of the Soul are miles ahead of the Cube and xB), but then again, sales of the Versa don’t seem to have hurt sales of the Sentra too much (even if the Cube isn’t a big seller).
Kia has a considerably smaller dealer network compared to the Japanese Big 3 and the domestics; but then again, that hasn’t prevented the Sorento from being a big sales hit (maybe we should all be in more awe of what Kia has been able to do w/ the Sorento).
Lastly, the Forte’s selling point is supposed to be its sportier nature; but the Forte (aside from the Koup in SX trim) doesn’t quite live up to that. Kia needs to tweak a few things on the Forte, not to mention add some more HP under the hood and stick in that 6 spd AT (most of which they have already done for the Forte 5 door).
I can see the Forte’s sales eventually moving ahead of the Mazda3, but that’s about it.
@tankinbeans: I worked with a kid who bought a then 5 year old Corolla on the idea that it will run forever; too bad it didn’t work out that way. His 350,000 mile Honda Civic ran better than this ‘Rolla, but in the cars defense, he didn’t really know how poorly it had been taken care of. He really should have done a pre purchase inspection, but he didn’t ask me… ;)
@bd2: The Corolla and Yaris get all the crap & etc. Going back 20 years when I was selling cars, the smallest Toyotas were dreadful to drive. See my earlier comment. I see little has changed.
@geo
I’m not saying this is a good practice, but the car has done well for him even after being abused. I’m much more picky about my maintenance. If I know something is coming up I will work on gathering the money together to get it fixed before it turns major. It’s sad, I know enough about cars to be dangerous, and am working to gain more knowledge of repairing them, but not enough to do a really good inspection.
Look for the sales of the Elantra to jump once dealers get a decent supply of the new 2011. The 2010s are almost gone, and many dealers were out of the 2011s for parts of February (my dealer went 2 weeks straight without a single 2011 on the lot!).
Cruze sales are loking good. Many folks said it would fall flat due to price and it being a GM product.
I want to see the Cruze, Elantra and Jetta go head to head. I know it’s not really how things are done on this site, but I’d still love to see it. I’m picturing a price cap at $19k.
Get the important newcomers out of the way before the big dogs refresh their lineups and we’ll have a good reference point from which we can all armchair quarterback with confidence.
Though some will argue the merit, people do still read Consumer Reports and I was stunned to see them writing relatively positive remarks on the new(er) Golf/Jetta platforms. It’d be nice to see VW turn a corner here in the States to offer an alternative to the norm…but I’m not holding my breath. On another topic, after having rented a new Corolla and a new Elantra at the same time, I am simply amazed at the difference in the two. The Corolla performed “well enough” but dang near put me to sleep when I sat inside of it (not to mention I never once turned to look back at it when I got out of it). The Elantra was a totally different animal. It’s just a shame to see Hyundai fumbling a bit with dealer allocation and such…I hope they get it together, as they have several solid hits in the mix these days.
I did see several Cruzes out on the long haul between SC and AL over the weekend…the styling is pretty conservative, but then style is such a subjective topic…I’m preferential to the Elantra, but that’s just me.
I have the new annual auto issue of Consumer Reports…in it, they said that if the new Jetta is any indication, VW is heading in the wrong direction. I didn’t get the impression that they liked it all that much.
Being a paid up member of the B&B all the Elantra needs is a hatch and it would be really smoking – of course the “normal buyer” wouldn’t care but I would :-)
I see more Chevy Cruzes every day and that impresses me. I have driven Corollas and of course, wasn’t impressed, but then, my Impala probably doesn’t impress anyone besides me, either, but I love it, as a friend who owns a Corolla loves his. It’s all subjective. I was up in Minnesota on business last week and had a rental Malibu – an LTZ, top-of-the-line. Verrry impressive and a nice ride. All the trimmings and leather and no charcoal/black interior, either! I, for one would like the OEM’s to take over their “rightful” place as top-sellers in all categories again, but only if they commit to building world-class cars. Are we seeing that beginning to happen? Would be nice, wouldn’t it?
Our neighbor bought one of the first Cruzes (an LT) in our area last fall. I drove it around the block. It struck me as a huge improvement over any small car previously sold by GM. But then, GM’s small car offerings have long needed this level of improvement just to be competitive.
In my part of WMich, I have only seen a few Cruzes, I’ve actually seen more Buick Regals! I’m not sure what that means. Of the Cruzes I have seen, they’ve been the upmarket LT and LTZ models. And again, I’m not really sure if that’s important.
I spent about 200 miles in a rental 2011 Elantra. I was immediately impressed but over three days and driving it around the allure quickly faded. There are some things the Elantra does extremely well. City driving and rural road running, and it has a very generous backseat.
The ergonomics in the center stack left a lot to be desired and highway manners were not very good. Also didn’t get MPG as advertised, not even close – admittedly the mill only had 700 miles on it and I’ve generally experienced MPG improves as you roll over the 2K to 5K range on many new cars. I averaged 27.6 MPG in what was mostly highway driving in the 65 to 75 MPH range.
I left the Elantra feeling like this was a giant leap over the previous offering, and a good car with a lot of the right features, but not on the mark and needing a number of continued improvements. I don’t know where the EPA is getting its current MPG numbers either, but I’m feeling like a lot of cars spent the last 10 miles rolling down a hill at idle.
My thoughts exactly, as we had a rental Sonata back in November for a trip to Chicago. I would never own one.
Geeee I’m sure glad GM killed the Vibe along with Pontiac. You wouldn’t want a portion of the Matrix slice of that pie, now would you?
Yeah, you would think the success of the Matrix would convince Honda and GM of the viability of a hatchback over here, especially in Canada. A lot of this could be the optional AWD on the Matrix, but it’s a strange case nonetheless. I know a hatchback Civic or Cruze would definitely be added to my short list, that’s for sure.
Maybe hatchbacks need AWD as an option to sell well in the U.S.. The 2012 Focus will be a good test case.
I think Dan is going to be mad at me because I ditched my Grand Prix. :) I was having trouble feeding it and actually went into a Forte, my first manual. I’d read up on it on True Delta (thank you MK for this site) liked the mileage estimates, which I know shouldn’t be taken as gospel, and liked the looks.
I have 560 miles on it, my first new car (depreciation will probably be a bear, but I don’t care at this point as I want to finally run a car into the ground after 10 years), and it’s stood up to my abuse. I’m still a noob behind the wheel of a manual, but love it, and I’m getting a lot better. I haven’t stalled it in 2 days. Woot woot.
Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… got to do what you got to do. If you lived in the dry desert like me I would have encouraged you to get a nicely cared for used motorcycle and then drive the Grand Prix when the weather was bad or you needed to go long distances. I’m about 12 to 16 months from a car purchase and my father would likely beat me if he knew that many of the candidates are “foreign” names. Although he would be happy that those said candidates are also assembled right here in the good ole’ U.S. of A.
FWIW you’ll still likely occasionally stall the engine even when you get really good at a manual. Take it from a guy who has had the knowledge to drive stick since July of 2009.
Can somebody explain the difference between midsize and compact? On the window sticker of the Forte it lists as a midsize, but KBB lists it as a compact. Then you go out to fueleconomy.gov and it’s listed as a midsize again. I’m confused.
The government sources categorize cars by bands of interior+trunk volume. A compact with a biggish trunk and a high roof can end up in the midsize band. KBB probably classes by intended segment.
I’ve been driving stick for 16 years and still kill it once or twice a year.
Thank you Dan and Bumpy, I will resist the urge to beat myself up because I still kill my car periodically. Now to master those darned hills.
I’ve been driving a stick since 1968 and still kill my Miata on occasion! I can’t figure it out, either – or maybe I’m just getting old and don’t want to gun the engine too much and cause excessive clutch wear. It happens to the best (or worst) of us!
42 years after learning to drive on a 64 Chevy, three on the tree, with a stovebolt six. I will still kill them. Some times I can still hear my late dad yelling “EASE THE CLUTCH OUT…MICHAEL”