Its looks leave the B&B cold, and is powered by a fuel whose infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired. So, how popular could the Toyota Mirai possibly be? Better than you’d expect.
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Category: Sales
In each of the last three months, the Cherokee has been the best-selling model at America’s fastest-growing volume brand. Jeep sales are up 44% in the United States through the first eleven months of 2014, an improvement of 191,895 units.
Excluding the Cherokee, which wasn’t on sale until the fourth-quarter of 2013, Jeep sales are still up 10% in 2014 and 15% in November. Those Cherokee-less increases still far outpace the auto industry as a whole, which is up a little more than 5% this year; a little less than 5% in November.
Yet even before Jeep once again broadens its lineup with the subcompact Renegade, the Cherokee helped power the brand to new heights. The Jeep brand last topped the 500,000 mark in calendar year 1999. Jeep sold 629,074 utility vehicles during the first eleven months of 2014. Read More >
If ever there was a month to highlight the popularity of America’s best-selling SUVs and crossovers, November 2014 is it. The Honda CR-V, the top-ranked utility vehicle in each of the last three months, didn’t just outsell all SUV and crossover nameplates, it outsold all passenger car nameplates, as well.
CR-V sales improved by 8869 units as the four cars which sold more often one year ago – Camry, Accord, Civic, Altima – all registered fewer sales this November than last, combining for 8359 fewer total sales. During a month in which passenger car sales held steady, utility vehicle sales jumped 9.5%.
The CR-V was by no means the only popular utility vehicle to post major gains in November 2014. All of the ten top sellers shown here (indeed, all 14 top-selling SUVs and crossovers) reported increased volume, year-over-year. The second-ranked Ford Escape was up 22%. Jeep’s Cherokee, still new at this time a year ago, was up 67% in November 2014. Nissan Rogue volume jumped 44%. Read More >
Compared with the previous month, November 2014 saw smaller automakers pick up market share at the expense of America’s largest automobile manufacturers. General Motors and Ford Motor Company combined to lose nearly a full percentage point in November even as the Volkswagen Group, Subaru, and Daimler AG combined to equal that in terms of gains. Read More >
After climbing above $3.50/gallon for much of the spring, the average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline began to decline in mid-July before rapidly plunging throughout the fall of 2014, sliding to around $2.70/gallon by the beginning of December.
Have consumer tendencies been altered as a result?
We’re not on a mission to suggest they have, nor is our aim to support the belief that they haven’t. Any change would be both slight and gradual, and not without other possible causes. (Indeed, if it is slight, it means the vast majority of buyers aren’t changing their ways at all.) But if there is a band of consumers which makes new vehicle purchase decisions based on a brief period of less costly fuel, how many consumers are in such a band, and how different is the new track they follow? Read More >
Losing 700 pounds may not be enough in the fuel economy for the 2015 Ford F-150, as plans are being made to add hybridization to the mix.
For the 18th consecutive month, the Scion brand’s U.S. volume declined in November 2014. The streak has reached a special low point, however, with the worst percentage decline since June and the lowest sales total since January 2012, when the iQ had only just arrived and the FR-S wasn’t yet on sale.
We’re long past expecting Scion to be capable of selling 14,400 cars a month as they did when the brand peaked in 2006. In 2012, Scion sold an average 6125 cars per month, an average which climbed to nearly 6700 monthly sales in the final seven months of that year.
But with just 3907 November 2014 sales, a 21.4% drop compared with November 2013 and a 30.3% decline compared with November 2012, the brand’s 18-month streak has tumbled to new lows. Read More >
Full-size pickup trucks generated 13.1% of all U.S. new vehicle sales in November 2014, up from 12.5% in November 2013 thanks to a 10% volume gain.
That 10% segment-wide increase occurred despite a 10% decrease from America’s best-selling vehicle line, the Ford F-Series. New F-150s are arriving at dealers now, but overall F-Series volume will be volatile for a few months as the aluminum F-150 takes over from the outgoing model.
The F-Series’ share of the full-size category slid from 42.2% in November 2013 to 34.6% last month. Read More >
Things are rough for Ford on Truck Mountain, with ground lost for the fourth consecutive month in November in a market-share situation that isn’t about to improve any time soon.
New vehicle buyers registered 1.3 million cars, SUVs, crossovers, vans, and pickup trucks in November 2014, a 57,000-unit improvement compared with November 2013.
No volume brand accelerated at a faster rate in November than Ram, which shot up 31%. Scion sales, on the other hand, plunged 21%. Land Rover, Cadillac, Smart, Infiniti, and Jaguar all posted double-digit losses, as well. Ford is America’s top-selling auto brand, both in November and the first eleven months of 2014. With a 10% decline in F-Series sales last month, however, Ford was down 2.6%. Total GM sales are up 4.1% this year and rose 6.5% in November, spreading the manufacturer’s lead by 39,484 units to nearly 409,000 units.
As for premium brands, Mercedes-Benz claimed a broad victory in November but trails BMW by 1830 sales heading into 2014’s final month. Lexus, the third-ranked premium automaker, is almost 25,000 sales back of Mercedes-Benz, but the first 22 NXs were sold in November. We also saw the arrival last month of the Chevrolet City Express and Alfa Romeo 4C, both of which produced their first 24 sales. The Toyota Camry was America’s best-selling car; the Honda CR-V led all utility vehicles.
| Automaker | November 2014 | November 2013 | % Change | 2014 YTD | 2013 YTD | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Acura
|
14,857 | 14,559 | 2.0% | 150,034 | 149,685 | 0.2% |
|
Alfa Romeo
|
24 | — | — | 24 | — | — |
|
Audi
|
16,650 | 13,636 | 22.0% | 162,773 | 141,048 | 15.4% |
|
BMW
|
31,019 | 31,752 | -2.3% | 298,212 | 271,891 | 9.7% |
|
Buick
|
19,143 | 15,072 | 27.0% | 208,606 | 190,130 | 9.7% |
|
Cadillac
|
13,148 | 16,172 | -18.7% | 154,600 | 164,378 | -5.9% |
|
Chevrolet
|
149,673 | 145,089 | 3.2% | 1,848,504 | 1,793,632 | 3.1% |
|
Chrysler
|
27,243 | 21,024 | 29.6% | 277,855 | 282,222 | -1.5% |
|
Dodge
|
42,108 | 41,506 | 1.5% | 527,577 | 548,654 | -3.8% |
|
Fiat
|
3,111 | 3,075 | 1.2% | 42,337 | 39,491 | 7.2% |
| Ford | 178,221 | 182,978 | -2.6% | 2,167,162 | 2,194,934 | -1.3% |
|
GMC
|
43,854 | 35,727 | 22.7% | 448,815 | 407,781 | 10.1% |
|
Honda
|
106,957 | 101,948 | 4.9% | 1,253,557 | 1,240,372 | 1.1% |
|
Hyundai
|
53,672 | 56,005 | -4.2% | 661,211 | 657,778 | 0.5% |
|
Infiniti
|
11,398 | 13,152 | -13.3% | 105,323 | 103,223 | 2.0% |
|
Jaguar
|
1,253 | 1,446 | -13.3% | 14,090 | 15,408 | -8.6% |
|
Jeep
|
57,489 | 45,415 | 26.6% | 629,074 | 437,179 | 43.9% |
|
Kia
|
44,936 | 45,411 | -1.0% | 534,647 | 501,548 | 6.6% |
|
Land Rover
|
3,644 | 4,601 | -20.8% | 45,711 | 44,246 | 3.3% |
|
Lexus
|
27,472 | 25,611 | 7.3% | 271,510 | 239,090 | 13.6% |
|
Lincoln
|
8,113 | 6,727 | 20.6% | 84,784 | 73,710 | 15.0% |
|
Maserati
|
1,203 | 887 | 35.6% | 11,531 | 3,715 | 210% |
|
Mazda
|
21,242 | 20,754 | 2.4% | 280,993 | 260,982 | 7.7% |
|
Mercedes-Benz
|
34,578 | 34,376 | 0.6% | 296,382 | 279,501 | 6.0% |
|
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
|
2,532 | 2,010 | 26.0% | 22,457 | 18,988 | 18.3% |
|
Total Mercedes-Benz
|
37,110 | 36,386 | 2.0% | 318,839 | 298,489 | 6.8% |
|
Mini
|
5,009 | 4,575 | 9.5% | 49,497 | 59,910 | -17.4% |
|
Mitsubishi
|
6534 | 6071 | 7.6% | 71,098 | 55,671 | 27.7% |
|
Nissan
|
91,790 | 93,376 | -1.7% | 1,164,254 | 1,035,439 | 12.4% |
|
Porsche
|
4,699 | 3,966 | 18.5% | 43,732 | 39,077 | 11.9% |
|
Ram
|
40,864 | 31,255 | 30.7% | 420,511 | 331,815 | 26.7% |
|
Scion
|
3,907 | 4,968 | -21.4% | 54,192 | 63,998 | -15.3% |
|
Smart
|
815 | 959 | -15.0% | 9,480 | 8,409 | 12.7% |
|
Subaru
|
45,273 | 36,621 | 23.6% | 463,770 | 384,511 | 20.6% |
|
Suzuki
|
— | — | — | — | 5,946 | -100% |
|
Toyota
|
151,967 | 147,465 | 3.1% | 1,833,012 | 1,742,111 | 5.2% |
|
Volkswagen
|
31,725 | 30,727 | 3.2% | 332,911 | 373,689 | -10.9% |
|
Volvo
|
3,623 | 4,233 | -14.4% | 51,446 | 56,345 | -8.7% |
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
|
BMW-Mini
|
36,028 | 36,327 | -0.8% | 347,709 | 331,801 | 4.8% |
|
Chrysler Group/FCA
|
170,839 | 142,275 | 20.1% | 1,897,378 | 1,639,361 | 15.7% |
|
Daimler
|
37,925 | 37,345 | 1.6% | 328,319 | 306,898 | 7.0% |
|
Ford Motor Company
|
186,334 | 189,705 | -1.8% | 2,251,946 | 2,268,644 | -0.7% |
|
General Motors
|
225,818 | 212,060 | 6.5% | 2,660,525 | 2,555,921 | 4.1% |
|
Honda Motor Company
|
121,814 | 116,507 | 4.6% | 1,403,591 | 1,390,057 | 1.0% |
|
Hyundai-Kia
|
98,608 | 101,416 | -2.8% | 1,195,858 | 1,159,326 | 3.2% |
|
Jaguar-Land Rover
|
4,897 | 6,047 | -19.0% | 59,801 | 59,654 | 0.2% |
|
Nissan Motor Company
|
103,188 | 106,528 | -3.1% | 1,269,577 | 1,138,662 | 11.5% |
|
Toyota Motor Corporation
|
183,346 | 178,044 | 3.0% | 2,158,714 | 2,045,199 |
5.6% |
|
Volkswagen Group *
|
53,387 | 48,652 | 9.7% | 542,007 | 556,336 | -2.6% |
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
|
Industry Total
|
1,302,655
|
1,245,189
|
4.6%
|
15,023,111
|
14,243,037
|
5.5% |
* Volkswagen Group includes sales figures for Audi, Bentley, Porsche, and Volkswagen brands
** Industry total includes Automotive News sales estimates for ultra-low-volume automakers and their 2200-unit (November) Tesla sales estimate.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
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. Read More >
The Chevrolet Trax, Fiat 500X, Honda HR-V, Jeep Renegade, and Mazda CX-3 are coming. The Buick Encore, a pair of taller Minis, and the Nissan Juke are already here.
It’s a burgeoning segment, silly in the eyes of many, but useful for automakers who want to cash in on consumers’ desire for fuel efficiency and slightly higher driving positions, consumers who are forever interested in a little wheelarch cladding.
However, these vehicles don’t even combine to sell as often as the Honda CR-V, America’s top-selling SUV/crossover. That’s not to say they won’t. Nor are we suggesting that buyers of these vehicles would consider something as mainstream as a CR-V, Escape, or RAV4, America’s top-selling utilities.
Through the first ten months of 2014, Subaru has sold 19,969 copies of their Impreza-based WRX and STi, 996 more than the number of Toyobaru sports cars sold in America this year.
WRX/STi sales are up 35% through the end of October 2014, a 140% increase compared with the full 2010 calendar year, 45% compared with all of 2011, 47% compared with 2012, and 11% compared with all of 2013.
2014, as you know, is not over yet. Subaru USA has been selling just under 2000 WRXs and STis per month.
Year-over-year volume has increased in 24 consecutive months. Nearly three out of every ten Imprezas sold is either a WRX or an STi. Read More >
Is the raw power of the Mercedes-AMG lineup too much, but you still covet the name? The Teutonic marque has something just for you.
They’ve been certified, although not with the fuel economy figures we first heard. They’re available, although many Mini buyers will want their cars individually tailored. And as a result, U.S. sales of Mini’s core model – the one they call the Hardtop – jumped 64% in October 2014.
All other Mini variants posted fewer sales in October 2014 than in October 2013. In some cases, the declines represented significant losses. Read More >
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