Cars and Drivers

The 10 Most Searched Cars in America

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: August 20, 2016 9:15 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:26 am

KBB.com supplies a list of the most searched cars year to date at its site. Some of them are not among the best-selling cars, an odd disconnect.

Kelley Blue Book provides its methodology: Car buyers across the country have nearly 300 models to choose from in 2016, but the 10 bestsellers accounted for one out of every four new vehicles sold. Featuring three trucks, five sedans and two sport utility vehicles (SUVs), here are the 10 best-selling cars in the United States in 2016 through July of this year.

The 10 best-selling cars through July were:

• The Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) F-series (460,901)
• General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Chevy Silverado (327,768)
• Fiat Chrysler Automobile N.V.’s (NYSE: FCAU) Dodge Ram (271,232)
• The Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) Camry (233,882)
• Honda Motor Co. Ltd.’s (NYSE: HMC) Civic (222,792)
• Toyota’s Corolla (213,910)
• Honda’s Accord (201,300)
• The Toyota RAV4 (197,7710)
• Nissan’s Altima (197,6440)
• Honda’s CRV (195,092).

Among the most searched cars, the Jeep Wrangler replaces the Silverado and Ford’s Mustang replaces the Ram.

Why the difference? Impossible to say. It may be that people who want full-sized pickups already know what they want and don’t need to look at KBB. More ominous for Ram and Silverado makers, buyers already may have picked the F-150. That may be part of the reason why the F-150 is the best-selling vehicle in America.

One more thing the top 10 have in common. They all have low base prices and, for the most part, get high gas mileage. No matter how low the price of gas goes, it appears that Americans don’t want to give more than they have to at the pump. If gas gets back to $3 a gallon, the list is unlikely to change.