Americans bought about two million full-size pickups last year. To put that into perspective, consider this: Roughly one in eight vehicles sold in the U.S. last year was a big pickup. Yet, impressive as that sounds, there’s a vehicle class that handily outsells the pickup.
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We’ve been conditioned to think that crossovers and SUVs are the new titans of personal transportation, but when it comes to actual unit sales, no category of vehicle can trump non-luxury midsize cars. Last year, Americans snapped up a healthy 2.3 million midsize cars, most of which are regular old-school sedans.
Camry Sales
Here’s the breakdown:
Toyota Camry 408,000
Honda Accord 367,000
Nissan Altima 320,000
Ford Fusion 235,000
Hyundai Sonata 204,000
Chevrolet Malibu 201,000
Kia Optima 156,000
Chrysler 200 122,000
Volkswagen Passat 110,000
Dodge Avenger 94,000
Subaru Legacy 42,000
Mazda 6 37,000
Buick Regal 19,000
Suzuki Kizashi 3,000*
Mitsubishi Galant 1,000*
Toyota Prius v N/A*
Total 2,319,000
*Note that the Suzuki Kizashi and Mitsubishi Galant were not offered as 2013 models, though a number of 2012 models were sold in calendar-year 2013. Note also that Toyota does not break out Prius sales numbers by model. Thus, sales of the midsize Prius v are not available.
Consider for a moment the top two sellers in the midsize-car category, Camry and Accord. In a marketplace swirling with new nameplates and ever-evolving niche segments, it’s interesting to note the best selling midsize cars have been around for 31 and 38 years, respectively.
Combined, the Accord and Camry racked up 775,000 U.S. sales last year. That’s a cool five percent of the total U.S. market, from just two models–two models out of the roughly 300 models currently on sale in this country.
Presented here are several comparisons, which should help put the Camry/Accord phenomenon in perspective.
In 2013, in the U.S., Camry and Accord combined outsold…
…the entire Dodge brand (596,000 sales)
…the entire Hyundai brand (721,000)
…the combined total sales of Mazda (284,000), Mitsubishi (62,000), and Subaru (425,000)
…the combined total sales of Buick (206,000), Cadillac (183,000), Chrysler (302,000), and Lincoln (81,000)
…the combined total sales of Audi (158,000), Infiniti (116,000), Jaguar (67,000), Land Rover (67,000), Lexus (274,000), and Volvo (61,000)
For some real midsize-car sales firepower, we can toss the Nissan Altima into the mix. Combined, the Camry, Accord, and Altima racked up 1,095,000 U.S. sales in 2013. Perspective? Last year, the three cars together nearly matched the combined sales of all German-brand vehicles sold in the U.S. (1,332,000).
Impressive as that is, the top two pickups—Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado–combined last year for a staggering 1.2 million sales, which still makes these the real single-model champs.
Read ‘Toyota Sales in the Balance: 4 of 31 Models Account for Half of U.S. Sales’ here
Sales figures rounded to nearest thousand. All sales data provided by ‘Automotive News.’
