Corolla back on top of compact car sales while Civic sales cool [News]

11thGen_Corolla_2014_toyota

The Toyota Corolla took advantage of a slow month for the Honda Civic to take the top spot in compact car sales for September.

The Corolla, the Toyota Camry and the Honda CR-V were the only vehicles to crack the 30,000 sales mark for the month, and the Corolla narrowly lost the overall lead to the CR-V by a mere 700 sales.

Corolla sales jumped 17 percent for the month over September 2015, nearly erasing the yearly deficit, which is down to a one percent drop.

The Civic has been the hottest-selling car in the segment all year long, but in September, sales dropped slightly for the month. Yearly sales are still up 13.6 percent, one of the strongest performances of the year so far. Month-over-month sales for the Civic dropped 14 percent, while the Corolla was up 1.4 percent. In fact, only the Corolla and the Mazda3 had more sales in September than in August.

2016 chevrolet cruze

The Hyundai Elantra was back in third place, leapfrogging the much improved Chevrolet Cruze, which is finally hitting its stride after the new model replaced the old. Elantra sales are down across the board, though, and although the Cruze had the worst month-over-month performance, it had an 8.4 percent increase over 2015.

The Kia Forte continues to be the most improved compact car for the year, while the lower-volume Buick Verano was the most improved for the month. The biggest loser was, again, the Dodge Dart, as production winds down for FCA’s only compact car offering. Production will shift to more profitable Jeep crossovers.

Compact Car Sales – September 2016

Sept 2016 # August 2016 # Sept ’16/Aug ’16 % Sept 2016/2015 YTD 2016 # YTD 2016/2015 %
Toyota Corolla 31,167 30,741 1.4% 17.0% 275,818 -1.0%
Honda Civic 28,184 32,807 -14.1% -0.3% 283,783 13.6%
Hyundai Elantra 19,382 20,733 -6.5% -6.5% 157,050 -19.0%
Chevrolet Cruze 15,216 22,342 -31.9% 8.4% 138,012 -22.5%
Nissan Sentra 13,670 14,256 -4.1% -3.7% 169,476 9.9%
Ford Focus 11,160 11,772 -5.2% -16.9% 140,049 -14.5%
VW Jetta 8,299 11,720 -29.2% 6.8% 89,748 -7.9%
Kia Forte 8,256 8,307 -0.6% 53.2% 79,608 25.8%
Mazda Mazda3 7,350 7,297 0.7% -5.2% 74,131 -9.9%
Subaru Impreza 4,786 5,319 -10.0% -13.8% 45,070 -10.7%
VW Golf 4,585 4,840 -5.3% -12.7% 41,098 -17.4%
Buick Verano 3,929 4,652 -15.5% 65.3% 25,368 1.5%
Subaru WRX 2,683 3,194 -16.0% -11.5% 25,171 0.1%
Dodge Dart 2,597 2,898 -10.4% -63.0% 37,267 -45.0%
Scion iM/Toyota Corolla iM 1,105 1,397 -20.9% -17.7% 13,184 NEW
Mitsubishi Lancer 923 1,089 -15.2% -17.3% 11,539 -19.1%

 

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