Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - May 2012

In a field normally filled with humdrum midsize sedans and numerous compact sedans, it's a real pleasure to see the Ford Mustang rank as the 18th-best-selling passenger car in America in May 2012. Chevrolet Camaro sales slid 5% year-over-year and the Bowtie muscle car fell right off this list - it ranked 15th at this time in 2011 - but Mustang sales are surging, up 58% last month.

Before the new Camry had taken hold but after the tsunami had destroyed parts of Japan last March, car supply in North America was strained. The Chevrolet Malibu was the best-selling car in the United States; the Camry ranked eighth. One year later, the new Toyota Camry is resoundingly and routinely America's top-selling car, beating the nearest competitor by more than 6000 sales in May, beating its nearest midsize rival by nearly 10,000 sales. Year-to-date, the Camry's lead over the second-best-selling Nissan Altima has grown to 46,507 units with seven months remaining.

Is it too early to say the Camry will end 2012 as the best-selling car in the United States? The fast-rising Honda Civic would need to outsell the midsize Toyota by 6673 sales in every month from June through December to conquer the Camry.

Charting Small, Midsize & Large Car Sales In America - May 2012

There are six Japanese-badged cars on this May 2012 edition of America's 20 best-selling cars, all in the top ten. This leaves four Korean cars, two Germans, and eight Detroit machines. Sales figures for each and every car present here as well as all the other 230 models on sale in North America can be accessed through the first dropdown at GoodCarBadCar's Sales Stats home.

Rank	Best-Selling Car	May 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Toyota Camry	39,571	+ 110%	181,796	+ 44.2%
#2	Honda Civic	33,490	+ 82.6%	135,082	+ 22.7%
#3	Toyota Corolla/Matrix	31,847	+ 87.5%	125,079	+ 6.1%
#4	Honda Accord	29,737	+ 74.7%	126,254	+ 13.3%
#5	Chevrolet Malibu	29,579	+ 15.5%	110,035	+ 11.1%
#6	Ford Fusion	26,857	+ 8.9%	112,416	+ 1.4%
#7	Ford Focus	24,769	+ 11.1%	110,237	+ 43.8%
#8	Nissan Altima	22,690	- 11.1%	135,289	+ 20.5%
#9	Toyota Prius Family	21,477	+ 210%	107,504	+ 72.9%
#10	Hyundai Sonata	20,765	- 8.7%	96,481	+ 0.1%
#11	Chevrolet Cruze	19,613	- 13.6%	94,901	- 3.2%
#12	Hyundai Elantra	18,877	- 5.6%	80,114	- 3.8%
#13	Chevrolet Impala	15,879	- 5.0%	81,221	- 7.0%
#14	Volkswagen Jetta	15,175	- 9.0%	69,599	- 6.8%
#15	Kia Optima	13,364	+ 79.8%	59,765	+ 103%
#16	Chrysler 200	13,250	+ 85.3%	58,231	+ 111%
#17	Dodge Avenger	10,682	+ 92.7%	43,458	+ 74.8%
#18	Ford Mustang	10,427	+ 57.8%	38,361	+ 27.0%
#19	Volkswagen Passat	10,178	+ 1,017,700%	44,813	+ 20,456%
#20	Kia Soul	10,146	- 9.1%	53,436	+ 22.4%

Source: Manufacturers
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales
Prius Sales: 13,053 Liftback plus 1086 Plug-In equal 14,139 Prius sales (enough to rank 15th) without the Prius V or Prius C, which sold 3645 and 3693 times, respectively, in May 2012.

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Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - May 2012
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