While total monthly cars and light truck sales notched a modest increase of 1.6% in May to 1,635,090, analysts commented that for the year 2015 sales would reach near record levels. It would be hard to show that trend from the sales of the 20 best-selling vehicles. Many of the numbers faltered badly.
The drop off in sales among the best-selling cars left small car manufactures to boost the industry as a whole. And some midsized manufacturers did that. First among these was white-hot Subaru. Its sales for the month rose to 49,561, up 12.2%. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) continued its months-long string of improvements. Total sales of the third largest U.S. car company rose 4.6% to 198,320. It now sells more cars and trucks than Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC), which posted a sales increase of a less than modest 1.3% to 154,593.
The luxury portion of the car market has become large enough that sales of companies in the sector, particularly the Germans, actually contribute at an important portion of the U.S. market. Mercedes sales were up 12% to 32,350. BMW sales rose 4.7% to 31,003. And Audi sales were up by 11% to 18,428. Taken as a group, they sell more than South Korean leader Hyundai, with sales of 63,610, down 10%.
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As a demonstration of how little the three largest car manufacturers by sales contributed, General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) together had sales that were no better than flat in May, compared to the same month last year.
As evidence of sales trouble among the best-selling cars and light trucks, both light truck leader Ford’s F-Series pickup and car leader Camry had sharp decreases in May, compared to the same month a year earlier. Equinox, RAV4, Rogue and Wrangler posted extraordinary grow for May. Accord, Camry and Cruze got slaughtered.
1. Ford F-Series
| May 2014 sales: 68,520 | May 2015 sales: 61,870 | Pct. change: -9.7 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 305,265 | 2015 YTD sales: 302,009 | Pct. change: -1.1 |
2. Chevrolet Silverado
| >May 2014 sales: 46,648 | May 2015 sales: 51,602 | Pct. change: 10.6 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 197,160 | 2015 YTD sales: 224,274 | Pct. change: 13.8 |
3. Toyota Camry
| May 2014 sales: 49,584 | May 2015 sales: 43,837 | Pct. change: -11.6 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 181,876 | 2015 YTD sales: 178,408 | Pct. change: -1.9 |
4. Ram P/U
| May 2014 sales: 37,131 | May 2015 sales: 39,952 | Pct. change: 7.6 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 170,711 | 2015 YTD sales: 179,384 | Pct. change: 5.1 |
5. Toyota Corolla
| May 2014 sales: 36,611 | May 2015 sales: 36,768 | Pct. change: 0.4 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 143,409 | 2015 YTD sales: 159,486 | Pct. change: 11.2 |
6. Honda Civic
| May 2014 sales: 36,089 | May 2015 sales: 34,472 | Pct. change: -4.5 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 34,796 | 2015 YTD sales: 129,574 | Pct. change: -3.9 |
7. Nissan Altima
| May 2014 sales: 36,053 | May 2015 sales: 33,630 | Pct. change: -6.7 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 150,342 | 2015 YTD sales: 142,613 | Pct. change: -5.1 |
8. Honda Accord
| May 2014 sales: 39,637 | May 2015 sales: 32,373 | Pct. change: -18.3 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 152,949 | 2015 YTD sales: 128,269 | Pct. change: -16.1 |
9. Honda CR-V
| May 2014 sales: 32,430 | May 2015 sales: 32,090 | Pct. change: -1.0 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 128,563 | 2015 YTD sales: 134,669 | Pct. change: 4.7 |
10. Ford Fusion
| May 2014 sales: 33,881 | May 2015 sales: 31,325 | Pct. change: -7.5 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 137,894 | 2015 YTD sales: 127,749 | Pct. change: -17.2 |
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11. Chevrolet Equinox
| May 2014 sales: 22,695 | May 2015 sales: 29,456 | Pct. change: 29.8 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 99,083 | 2015 YTD sales: 123,925 | Pct. change: 25.1 |
12. Ford Escape
| May 2014 sales: 31,896 | May 2015 sales: 29,248 | Pct. change: -8.3 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 127,780 | 2015 YTD sales: 122,290 | Pct. change: -4.3 |
13. Toyota RAV4
| May 2014 sales: 23,465 | May 2015 sales: 28,808 | Pct. change: 22.8 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 95,363 | 2015 YTD sales: 118,732 | Pct. change: 24.5 |
14. Nissan Rogue
| May 2014 sales: 18,722 | May 2015 sales: 25,901 | Pct. change: 38.3 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 84,236 | 2015 YTD sales: 112,154 | Pct. change: 33.1 |
15. Ford Focus
| May 2014 sales: 23,683 | May 2015 sales: 23,934 | Pct. change: 1.1 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 94,690 | 2015 YTD sales: 95,028 | Pct. change: 0.4 |
16. Chevrolet Cruze
| May 2014 sales: 32,393 | May 2015 sales: 23,752 | Pct. change: -26.7 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 119,330 | 2015 YTD sales: 105,291 | Pct. change: -11.8 |
17. Hyundai Elantra
| May 2014 sales: 21,867 | May 2015 sales: 23,432 | Pct. change: 7.2 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 95,329 | 2015 YTD sales: 102,085 | Pct. change: 7.1 |
18. Jeep Wrangler
| May 2014 sales: 19,235 | May 2015 sales: 22,324 | Pct. change: 16.1 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 69,298 | 2015 YTD sales: 83,291 | Pct. change: 20.2 |
19. Ford Explorer
| May 2014 sales: 22,623 | May 2015 sales: 22,304 | Pct. change: -1.4 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 87,170 | 2015 YTD sales: 99,855 | Pct. change: 14.6 |
20. Chevrolet Malibu
| May 2014 sales: 19,288 | May 2015 sales: 21,461 | Pct. change: 11.3 |
| 2014 YTD sales: 87,368 | 2015 YTD sales: 81,292 | Pct. change: -7.0 |
Source: Good Car Bad Car
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