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With two fewer selling days in May 2011 than there were in May 2010, an earthquake-ravaged supply of Japanese-branded cars, and decreases in incentivization, we all expected there to be some changes in America's 20 Best-Selling Cars list. Did you expect to see four midsize cars on top of the heap, none of them named Camry or Accord? The Chevrolet Malibu was the best-selling car in the United States in May, edging out the Nissan Altima by 75 units. Way back in eighth spot you'll find the Toyota Camry, down 36% from the same period of 2010. The Honda Accord slid from second to tenth on a 40% spiralling drop. The fuel-efficient Civic and Corolla weren't exempt from suffering, falling from third and sixth to ninth and eleventh, respectively. This turmoil didn't simply benefit super-popular cars like the Malibu, Altima, Ford Fusion, and Hyundai Sonata. Scroll down the list of America's best-sellers and you'll see find appearances by the BMW 3-Series and Dodge Charger, both of which posted declines in May while still managing to climb onto the 20 best-selling cars list anyhow.So let's repeat it in unison: the Chevrolet Malibu was America's best-selling car in May. Year-to-date, however, Honda has sold 120,039 Accords but Toyota is in front with 126,094 Camry sales. Rank | Car | Status | May 2011 | Last Month | May 2010 |
#1 | Chevrolet Malibu | ↑ | 25,600 | 24,701 | 21,722 |
#2 | Nissan Altima | ↑ | 25,525 | 17,232 | 21,950 |
#3 | Ford Fusion | ↑ | 24,666 | 21,189 | 22,381 |
#4 | Hyundai Sonata | ↑ | 22,754 | 21,738 | 21,195 |
#5 | Chevrolet Cruze/Cobalt | ↓ | 22,740 | 25,197 | 16,173 |
#6 | Ford Focus | ↑ | 22,303 | 17,265 | 16,931 |
#7 | Hyundai Elantra | ↔ | 20,006 | 22,100 | 9781 |
#8 | Toyota Camry | ↓ | 18,830 | 30,443 | 29,295 |
#9 | Honda Civic | ↓ | 18,341 | 26,777 | 28,458 |
#10 | Honda Accord | ↓ | 18,185 | 30,310 | 30,077 |
#11 | Toyota Corolla/Matrix | ↓ | 16,985 | 24,215 | 26,953 |
#12 | Chevrolet Impala | ↓ | 16,707 | 21,071 | 20,623 |
#13 | Volkswagen Jetta | ↔ | 16,671 | 16,955 | 10,514 |
#14 | Kia Soul | ↑ | 11,157 | 10,459 | 6134 |
#15 | Chevrolet Camaro | ↔ | 9451 | 21,071 | 8931 |
#16 | Mazda 3 | ↑ | 8789 | 8584 | 11,537 |
#17 | Subaru Outback | ↔ | 8431 | 9465 | 7630 |
#18 | Kia Forte | ↑ | 8129 | 8535 | 7299 |
#19 | BMW 3-Series | ↑ | 8117 | 7452 | 9659 |
#20 | Dodge Charger | ↑ | 7830 | 8485 | 9625 |
Source: Manufacturers And Automotive News Data CenterRelated From GoodCarBadCar.netTop 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - May 2012Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - June 2011Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - April 2011Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In America - May 2010U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - May 2011Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - May 2011Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In America - May 2011
After talk of Hyundai/Kia surpassing Toyota Motor Corporation in overall sales in May - a result that would have been brought on by supply problems traced back to Japan's massive earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster triad - it didn't happen. South Korea's Hyundai and Kia combined to sell 107,426 vehicles last month, up 34% on May 2010. Toyota, Lexus, and Scion sold 108,387 vehicles, down 33%, and quite forgivably so. It's hard to sell vehicles when there aren't any to sell. Hyundai/Kia's market share grew from 9.4% in April to 10.1% in the chart below. Toyota fell from 13.8% to 10.2% during the same period.GM's market share remained steady, actually growing slightly on account of the falling sales figures posted by most Japanese automakers. One-fifth of all May new vehicle sales occurred in General Motors dealerships. Ford Motor Company and the Chrysler Group also laid hold on market share upticks in May 2011.Of course, when Honda, Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota suffer, others are going to be there to pick up the slack. Besides GM, Ford, and Chrysler, the Volkswagen Group's slice increased from 3.6% in April to 4.1% in May. Two other German automakers, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, also owned a larger portion of the American automobile market by the end of May. A healthy Lexus could have an impact on those figures in the coming month, but in May, Lexus was down 44.6%, the worst decline among all automakers competing in the United States.
The U.S. auto market fell markedly in May 2011 after huge year-over-year growth earlier this year, but blame shouldn't necessarily be thrown down at the feet of vehicle manufacturers. Most automakers lowered incentives. All automakers battled high fuel prices. Huge swathes of the nation struggled to keep their homes afloat amidst natural disasters. And Japanese automakers finally began to suffer a loss of market share as a result of Japan's earthquake-sourced disasters. By times, Japan's problems have had an impact on the supply of American and European vehicles, as well.As a brand, Ford led the way in May with over 180,000 sales and a slight increase. The Ford Motor Company did, however, lose 9128 Mercury sales from May 2010. General Motors, despite losses at Chevrolet, out-sold Ford/Lincoln by 26,663 sales. On the whole, General Motors was down narrowly, but Buick and GMC posted nice gains.Eight Japanese automakers are in the red in the U.S. Auto Sales By Brand list below. Toyota's 33% decline from May 2010's 136,485 sales was the worst drop in terms of overall volume. Toyota's Lexus premium brand plummeted even deeper, down 45%, as it fell behind BMW, America's best-selling luxury brand in May, and Mercedes-Benz. Buick was ahead of Lexus in May and is up on its assumed rival by nearly 1500 units year-to-date.No automaker enjoyed year-over-year gains more than Saab. Bentley was up 69%. Among more mainstream brands, Mitsubishi improved by 60%, Volvo nearly that much, and Jeep climbed 55%. Get the details in the table, where you'll also find important year-to-date data for the first five months of 2011. Rank | Automaker | May 2011 | %
Change | Year To Date | YTD
% Change |
|
#1 | Ford | 184,703 | +5.3 | 843,710 | +19.7 |
#2 | Chevrolet | 161,401 | -3.5 | 747,700 | +16.6 |
#3 | Toyota | 91,386 | -33.0 | 601,449 | +0.48 |
#4 | Honda | 81,773 | -22.4 | 471,578 | +7.9 |
#5 | Nissan | 69,759 | -7.8 | 392,046 | +16.4 |
#6 | Dodge | 61,667 | +0.8 | 284,048 | +19.1 |
#7 | Hyundai | 59,214 | +20.7 | 263,588 | +28.8 |
#8 | | | | 200,060 | +44.8 |
#9 | Jeep | 35,573 | +55.0 | 152,810 | +44.1 |
#10 | GMC | 32,589 | +8.1 | 154,582 | +24.9 |
#11 | Volkswagen | 30,100 | +27.9 | 125,681 | +19.7 |
#12 | BMW | 20,651 | +15.6 | 92,068 | +13.0 |
#13 | Mercedes-Benz | 20,306 | +5.9 | 95,458 | +8.5 |
#14 | Subaru | 20,036 | -15.3 | 112,255 | +7.6 |
#15 | Mazda | 17,875 | -20.9 | 103,072 | +5.7 |
#16 | Chrysler | 16,364 | -20.9 | 79,539 | -11.9 |
#17 | Buick | 15,579 | +23.8 | 78,731 | +38.4 |
#18 | Lexus | 12,305 | -44.6 | 77,237 | -14.3 |
#19 | Cadillac | 11,623 | -5.7 | 65,262 | +23.1 |
#20 | Audi | | +13.6 | 45,858 | +15.1 |
#21 | | 9000 | -23.5 | 51,972 | +3.4 |
#22 | Mitsubishi | 7568 | +59.8 | 35,816 | +60.7 |
#23 | Lincoln | 7399 | -4.6 | 34,642 | -7.5 |
#24 | Volvo | 7359 | +58.0 | 29,203 | +25.8 |
#25 | Infiniti | 6389 | -21.0 | 40,986 | +5.1 |
#26 | Mini | 5801 | +37.0 | 24,588 | +46.3 |
#27 | Scion | 4696 | +14.2 | 23,165 | +34.2 |
#28 | Land Rover | 2891 | +6.7 | 14,140 | +16.1 |
#29 | Porsche | 2817 | +50.4 | 12,996 | +47.0 |
#30 | Suzuki | 2290 | +20.3 | 11,124 | +16.9 |
#31 | Fiat | 1759 | ----- | 3141 | ----- |
#32 | Jaguar | 1271 | +32.1 | 5021 | +18.6 |
#33 | smart | 492 | -29.2 | 2225 | -19.7 |
#34 | Saab | 385 | +121.3 | 3150 | +505.8 |
#35 | Bentley | 226 | +68.7 | 665 | +16.3 |
#36 | Maserati | 206 | +35.5 | 908 | +24.0 |
Source: Automakers & Automotive News Data Center
As an auto Sales Stats addict, you typically read GoodCarBadCar.net's posts on both U.S. Auto Sales and Canadian Auto Sales. The differences are astounding but seem easily explained by pointing to population differences. Is that all there is to it? Is the Canadian new vehicle market just a smaller version of the American new vehicle market? Aren't Canadians just Americans without guns? Don't they buy the same vehicles even as they watch the same TV shows?Three pertinent points must be made before we bother looking at specific automobiles. First, there are specific models available in the U.S. which aren't available in Canada, and vice versa. Second, there's a huge set of financial factors at play, from fuel prices to currency exchange and unique tariffs. Finally, Canadians buy more vehicles on a per capita basis. Through the first four months of 2011, there was one vehicle sold for every 70 people in Canada. During the same period, Americans acquired one vehicle for every 73 people. In other words, despite a population that's nine times bigger than Canada's, America's new vehicle market so far this year is only 8.5 times bigger.With all that explained, here's a quick look at a few vehicles Americans buy with exceedingly greater frequency than their friendly neighbours to the north, along with some others that Canadians are more likely to acquire. Keep two aforementioned figures in mind: nine and 8.5, the numbers by which you'd multiply Canada's population and new vehicle market size to arrive at the American totals.Chevrolet HHR: U.S. sales are 58.6 times stronger.Ford Explorer: U.S. sales are 16.2 times stronger.Honda CR-Z: U.S. sales are 21.7 times stronger.Hyundai Equus: U.S. sales are 35.2 times stronger.Land Rover Range Rover: U.S. sales are 26.9 times stronger.Mini Countryman: U.S. sales are 15.6 times stronger.Toyota Avalon: U.S. sales are 66.4 times stronger.Dodge Grand Caravan: only 1.9 times better in the U.S. Fiat 500: pretty much on par in North America; 67 units stronger in the States.Ford F-Series: just 5.9 times better in the U.S.Hyundai Accent: just 2.8 times better in the U.S.Mazda Tribute: 1.2 times stronger in Canada.Mitsubishi Outlander: only 1.6 times better in the U.S.Toyota Venza: just 2.6 times better in the U.S.*All figures relate to year-to-date figures through the end of April 2011Related From GoodCarBadCar.netTop 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - April 2011Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - April 2011U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - April 2011Canada Auto Sales By Brand - April 2011
In all your scanning of GoodCarBadCar.net's auto sales rundown for the United States in April, you've read The Good Car Guy's conclusions and you've formed some more of your own. Here are some others. 40% of all BMWs sold in America in April were one configuration or another of the 3-Series.Mini's most popular bodystyle was the regular hatchback. 3367 were sold. The Cooper and Cooper S Convertible formed the least popular bodystyle, down 15.8% to 565 April sales. The Clubman fared slightly better, down just 2.9% to 805. In second spot behind the regular Cooper hatch was the new Countryman, Driven by The Good Car Guy here.69.2% of all Chrysler Group sales were officially "light trucks". In other words, for every ten Chryslers, Dodges, Jeeps, and Fiats sold, only three were passenger cars in the traditional sense.Ferrari sold an estimated 131 cars. Maybach, the Automotive News Data Center estimates, sold five.The Ford Transit Connect was Ford's 14th-best-selling model in April with 2668 sales, ahead of the E-Series/Club Wagon's 2559 sales but behind the Expedition's 3214 sales.April was all about convertibles in the now-cancelled Mitsubishi Eclipse range. 1092 buyers opted for the Eclipse Spyder, only 261 chose the hardtop.Infiniti G sales were down overall, but don't blame the G37 Coupe, up 0.4% to 1267. G25 and G37 sales fell a combined 13.8% to 2588.Half the Porsches sold in America in April were Good 12-winning Cayennes.Subaru is balanced. Excluding the oft-ignored Tribeca, no model was worth less than 16.1% of the brand's overall April sales output. That's the Legacy, by the way. Even Subaru's most popular model, the Outback, was only responsible for 38.2% of all April sales. For a company with what amounts to a four-car lineup, this is healthy.The Acura RL posted a slight sales increase in April, up to 181 from 154 in April 2010. But the RL wasn't Acura's least popular model. With just 176 sales (down from 234 in the same period of last year) the Bad 8-losing ZDX was responsible for fewer than one in every 65 Acura sales. RL volume was lower than Hyundai Equus volume in AprilMore than a quarter of all Audi sales were Q5 or Q7 SUVs/crossovers. Not displayed in a conventional GoodCarBadCar.net Graph, the Mercedes-Benz R-Class found 195 U.S. buyers in April, down from 519. Mercedes-Benz USA also sold a B-Class mini-minivan in April, presumably a B-Class F-Cell.The Nissan LEAF beat the Chevrolet Volt in April. The Toyota Prius beat the Honda Insight; we'd be shocked if it hadn't. Toyota's Venza also beat the Honda Accord Crosstour. The Chevrolet Camaro's year-to-date lead on the Ford Mustang expanded in April, also.
