Find Reviews by Make:
Competition may be tightening for midsized sedan sales, but the battle is already well underway in the Mid/Large CUV category. Seven vehicles find themselves within 5k sales of each other at the top of this chart, making for something of a knife fight for large CUV buyers. Even much-hyped new entries from the Explorer and Grand Cherokee franchises (please note: February 2010 volume for both represents sales of the previous model) haven’t broken the stalemate in the war to become King of the Krossovers… in fact, Explorer isn’t even in the bunch battling for first place. Add up the volume, and the Lambda platform is the winner, but this segment still lacks clarity. Let the competition continue!
17 Comments on “Sales: Mid/Large CUVs, February 2011...”
Read all comments
Shouldn’t we have a full-size CUV category at this point? The Edge/Murano/Santa Fe/Sorento/Grand Cherokee are so much smaller than the giant Lambdas/Pilot/Highlander/Explorer I doubt there is much cross shopping.
This is a tricky segment to define. Going by wheelbase, the Pilot and Highlander are both shorter than the Edge or Equinox, and but overall length is larger for both. The Highlander seems closer to being an Edge/Murano sized vehicle even though it offers a third row, while the Pilot probably squeaks in as one of the smaller large crossovers.
I’d define them like this:
Midsize SUV/CUVs:
Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Liberty, Toyota Venza, Toyota Highlander, Hyundai Sante Fe, Kia Sorrento, Dodge Journey
Large CUVs:
Ford Explorer, Ford Flex, GM Lambdas, Dodge Durango, Honda Pilot, Hyundai Veracruz, Mazda CX-9
Most of these mid-size hauler are approaching the weight and foot-print of a mini-van – but without the cavernous cargo/people space.
Plus with the exception of the Grand Cherokee or Durango, one has be careful on unimproved, unpaved roads. While the body work may have a good 12 to 14 inches of clearance, the drive-trains are low hanging fruit for a rock or ledge. The trans-axle and engines are only a couple of inches higher than a front wheel based minivan.
If I had to choose one, it would be number five – which was recently described as “unexciting, but competent”.
I’ve noticed alot more “new” Minivans (temp. tag) out on the road lately, most notably the new Honda Odyssey, which has grown on me quite considerably.
I was dubious when GM rolled out the Lambdas – they didn’t seem SUV-like enough for purists, were too large and bulky to convert the sedan/wagon set, and didn’t quite offer the spaciousness and versatility of true minivans. Clearly I was wrong on all counts. 22,279 Lambdas sold in Feb, more than double the nearest competitor; and nearly 41,000 this year. And Acadia and Enclave median transaction prices are well into $40K territory. AND these are five-year-old models with minimal updates over that span. Say what you will about shameless platform-sharing, GM is making it work. So much so, they don’t seem to be missing a minivan. I just hope the Cadillac version is adequately different from the others.
I’ve gotten the Acadia and Enclave several times as overnight rentals and they do their job very well. The Enclave really is like a tomb, if that’s what you like. The Acadia is a little more ‘sporty’ feeling, inasmuch as a vehicle that size can be ‘sporty’. If I had $40K+ I wasn’t doing anything with, and really didn’t care about fuel mileage, the Acadia would be the one for me. Yes, for all of the hand-wringing on this site and others about GM not having a minivan of any kind, the sales numbers seem to contradict that line of thinking.
Ironically, the buyers most concerned about buying the SUV-like image would probably go for the Acadia, from the division that “must die.”
Had a 2011 Ford Edge Limited AWD as a rental for five days, put 754 miles on it and did a long write up on my blog. Gave it a B+ overall, generally liked it but had misgivings on how over-engineered Microsoft Sync has become, interior material qualities, and bang for the buck factor. At $41K you’re getting into very nicely equipped Buick Enclave pricing territory.
The Explorer is still severely supply limited. I could have sold many Explorers personally if I had been able to get them, but allocation is just trickling in and other dealers seem to be in the same boat, so no one will part with what little inventory they may have.
Once production fully ramps up the Explorer should be able to take the large CUV crown from the Traverse, but likely not the total sales crown against all Lambdas combined. If anything, it shows that people really love these big CUVs.
There will be a Lincoln variant of the Explorer (perhaps the new Navigator, perhaps a new model altogether) that will likely get the 3.5 liter EcoBoost as an engine option. It’s interesting that GM hasn’t positioned a Lambda as a Cadillac, preferring to let their highest tier brand live with the SRX on a reworked Theta platform originally designed for the smaller CUV entrants. Of course, there are the rumors the next Escalade will be Lambda based, so something could be coming.
This has been a burned out market segment. What we seem to be seeing is models being chosen by cautious buyers seeking familiarity and perceived value. I don’t expect folks in this market to be easily spending 30-40 grand on a new vehicle they don’t know the history of.
Here in middle America, I have only seen one new Ford Explorer on the Ford lot. So their numbers here don’t surprise me at all.
The Edge and the Traverse are mature vehicle designs that buyers are comfortable with. The Lambda vehicles have had great success being accepted by loyal GM SUV buyers at an important time in that company’s history.
Add Hyundai and Kia together and what’s the total?
Interesting that the Edge has muscled its way to the top, considering the near universal disgust reviewers have had for its new Sync systems. In parallel, BMW went to the top of the luxury sales charts at the time it was introducing iDrive, which provoked similar reactions.
My take is that consumers are willing to invest the time it takes to learn a new system– they already do it every 18-24 months with a phone/PDA, so why not every 36 months with a car?
“Universal disgust” is grossly overstating the summary of Sync reviews I’ve read. Yes, there’s a learning curve, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Sync advances technology in a positive way. I get a chance to drive rentals with business travel…Hop ino a new car and check out the new features, switchology, etc. Usually there’s not much to learn and 90% is similar from car to car. But, there are also no advances either.
Sync’s a game changer. It will a couple minutes longer to learn Sync, but soon it will be just like any other car. Other companies will go to touch screen/improved voice recognition and it will be second nature. Luddites will resist.
Anyone else think it’s sad that the current generation Outback is considered a midsize SUV? Not to say that it isn’t a good vehicle– I’m sure it is– but it seems to have gotten horribly bloated lately.
It needed some bloat, I would have likely bought an OBXT in 2006 if I’d fit in it. No headroom, no elbow room, no knee room. (And yet on paper it had more head and legroom than almost anything else on the market, which shows what brochure numbers are worth.)
It didn’t need the ugly though.
That’s a lot of Lambdas sold, hopefully the dealers are stocking up on camshafts and timing chains for their inevitable replacements.
Acadia with Brick Leather interior and Captain Chairs…. yummy. Only GM product I daydream about, aside from the Corvette. The interior is miles better than the Highlander, which tends to have very squeaky hard plastics.