For the second straight month, the Honda CR-V was the best selling vehicle in the land that’s not a full-size pickup truck, and it also lead compact crossover sales.
In a month where overall car sales have cooled, the CR-V had a 6.5 percent gain over September 2015 and was one of only three vehicles to crack the 30,000 sales mark. Its monthly lead over the Toyota RAV4 was also enough to give it the overall lead in the segment for the year. Yearly sales are up 1.5 percent.
Although now relegated to second place, the RAV4 nonetheless had a strong month, with a 8.6 percent sales gain over 2015. For the year, RAV4 sales are up more than 14 percent.
The perennial third-place finisher, the Nissan Rogue, rounded out another strong month for all the top three, with a 5.6 percent gain and a yearly increase of more than 13 percent.
Further down the list, the GM twins – the Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain – both had big drops in sales from September 2015. Equinox sales were down more than 29 percent while Terrain sales were down more than 48 percent. Both are also down for the year, which might be an indication that the aging crossovers need a refresh.
However, the equally aging Jeep Patriot’s sales were up 33 percent for the year, and it nearly cracked the 100,000 mark in sales. Not bad for a car that not only has to compete with other manufacturer’s cars, but also has to compete with the crossover-heavy Jeep lineup.
The Kia Sportage was most improved for the month and the year, and although it slipped in September, its cousin the Hyundai Tucson is also having a good year.
Compact Crossover Sales – September 2016
| Sept 2016 # | August 2016 # | Sept ’16/Aug ’16 % | Sept 2016/2015 | YTD 2016 # | YTD 2016/2015 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honda CR-V | 31,884 | 36,517 | -12.7% | 6.5% | 263,493 | 1.5% |
| Toyota RAV4 | 29,438 | 33,171 | -11.3% | 8.6% | 260,380 | 14.2% |
| Nissan Rogue | 26,459 | 32,979 | -19.8% | 5.6% | 241,619 | 13.3% |
| Ford Escape | 25,065 | 28,061 | -10.7% | -12.0% | 234,764 | 0.8% |
| Jeep Cherokee | 17,995 | 23,932 | -24.8% | -12.0% | 158,346 | -1.0% |
| Subaru Forester | 15,883 | 19,658 | -19.2% | 3.4% | 130,652 | 0.8% |
| Chevrolet Equinox | 15,261 | 15,273 | -0.1% | -29.1% | 173,736 | -18.8% |
| Jeep Patriot | 12,316 | 11,798 | 4.4% | 33.0% | 96,039 | 7.0% |
| Dodge Journey | 12,091 | 11,732 | 3.1% | 6.0% | 77,946 | -5.0% |
| Mazda CX-5 | 9,385 | 10,612 | -11.6% | 3.1% | 82,439 | 0.5% |
| Hyundai Tucson | 7,333 | 7,608 | -3.6% | -7.5% | 65,333 | 59.1% |
| Jeep Compass | 6,482 | 8,867 | -26.9% | -16.0% | 72,916 | 51.0% |
| Kia Sportage | 6,282 | 6,888 | -8.8% | 56.6% | 63,510 | 62.8% |
| GMC Terrain | 5,656 | 6,004 | -5.8% | -48.3% | 67,912 | -18.6% |
| VW Tiguan | 2,988 | 3,302 | -9.5% | 0.5% | 30,225 | 36.0% |
| Mitsubishi Outlander | 1,925 | 2,109 | -8.7% | -1.2% | 19,462 | 45.7% |
Check out this TFLcar video of the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox, which hopefully will reverse the current model’s sales decline:
