New car sales were strong in December; see last month's and last year's 20 top sellers
The Ford F-Series full-size pickup and Toyota Camry midsize sedan were yet again the nation's favorite vehicle and car, respectively, both December and throughout 2009.
Ford also saw strong success from its redesigned Fusion midsize sedan, which jumped from 17th place in 2008 to a slot on the top-10 best-selling list of 2009, and its Focus compact and Escape midsize weren't far behind. The Escape was also the best-selling SUV in December, unseating the Honda CR-V that itself had stolen the crown from Ford's Explorer several years ago.
General Motors, meanwhile, had an excellent month for its Chevrolet Malibu midsize, which beat out the Fusion and Nissan's Altima in December to be the country's third-best-selling midsize sedan, behind the Camry and Honda Accord. The Chevrolet Equinox compact/midsize SUV also did well at over 12,000 units -- a record for the model -- and the compact Chevrolet Cobalt's sales improved from abysmal to just mediocre. GM did, however, see its best-seller -- the Chevrolet Silverado pickup -- slide below both the Toyota Camry and Corolla last month even as its own sales jumped significantly month-to-month. (see sales charts below the article)
In other Ford/GM news, the automakers' ongoing rivalry between the Mustang and Camaro retro muscle cars saw the Ford inch closer to the sales of its rival, narrowing a once-mighty gap to just over 1,000. This Mustang sales increase comes even as Camaro sales stay strong at 7,500 last month and in the same month that Ford announced it would give massive upgrades to next year's Mustang.
The top-ten list seems mostly familiar for the total of 2009, but some major changes in December suggest 2010 might be an interesting year for auto sales. See the two sales charts below:
Best-selling cars of the year, 2008 vs. 2009: Sales ranking: 2008 2009
1. Ford F-Series: 515,513 Ford F-Series: 413,625
2. Chevrolet Silverado: 465,065 Toyota Camry: 356,824
3. Toyota Camry: 436,617 Chevrolet Silverado: 316,544
4. Honda Accord: 372,789 Toyota Corolla: 296,874
5. Toyota Corolla: 351,007 Honda Accord: 290,056
6. Honda Civic: 339,289 Honda Civic: 259,722
7. Nissan Altima: 269,668 Nissan Altima: 203,568
8. Chevrolet Impala: 265,840 Honda CR-V: 191,214
9. Dodge Ram: 245,840 Ford Fusion: 180,671
10. Honda CR-V: 197,279 Dodge Ram: 177,268
11. Ford Focus: 195,823 Ford Escape: 173,044
12. Chevrolet Cobalt: 188,045 Chevrolet Impala: 165,565
13. Chevrolet Malibu: 178,253 Chevrolet Malibu: 161,568
14. GMC Sierra: 168,544 Ford Focus: 160,433
15. Toyota Prius: 158,884 Toyota RAV4: 149,088
16. Ford Escape: 156,544 Toyota Prius: 139,682
17. Ford Fusion: 147,569 Hyundai Sonata: 120,028
18. Toyota Tacoma: 144,655 GMC Sierra: 111,842
19. Pontiac G6: 140,240 Toyota Tacoma: 111,824
20. Toyota Tundra: 137,239 Chevrolet Cobalt: 104,724
Best-selling cars, November vs. December 2009: Sales ranking: November 2009: December 2009:
1. Ford F-Series: 30,894 Ford F-Series: 48,209
2. Toyota Camry: 27,385 Toyota Camry: 34,946
3. Chevrolet Silverado: 22,101 Toyota Corolla: 34,220
4. Toyota Corolla: 21,899 Chevrolet Silverado: 33,301
5. Honda Accord: 17,239 Honda Accord: 28,238
6. Nissan Altima: 15,490 Honda Civic: 22,319
7. Ford Escape: 15,149 Chevrolet Malibu: 19,374
8. Honda CR-V: 13,955 Ford Escape: 19,156
9. Ford Fusion: 13,774 Ford Fusion: 18,852
10. Honda Civic: 13,652 Honda CR-V: 18,686
11. Chevrolet Impala: 12,375 Nissan Altima: 18,643
12. Toyota RAV4: 11,512 Toyota RAV4: 16,742
13. Chevrolet Malibu: 11,113 Ford Focus: 14,205
14. Ford Focus: 10,196 Chevrolet Impala: 13,613
15. Ram Pickup: 9,787 Chevrolet Equinox: 12,711
16. Toyota Prius: 9,612 GMC Sierra: 12,144
17. Chevrolet Equinox: 9,587 Ram Pickup: 12,014
18. GMC Sierra: 8,371 Lexus RX: 11,815
19. Hyundai Sonata: 8,178 Toyota Prius: 11,775
20. Dodge Grand Caravan: 8,171 Hyundai Sonata: 10,485
Source: New car sales were strong in December; see last month's and last year's 20 top sellers
