Nissan Rogue surprises, leads compact crossover and overall sales for December; CR-V is overall leader [News]

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The force must have been with the Nissan Rogue in December, as it not only took the compact crossover crown in December, but it was also the best-selling car in the land for the month.

The Rogue’s sales were 40,477, the only car (that’s not a pickup) that hit the 40k mark for the month. This is a 52.9 percent increase over December 2015. The strong month also added to the Rogue’s yearly sales, which were up 14.9 percent over 2015.

It wasn’t enough to touch the top two, though, as the Honda CR-V held on to beat out the Toyota RAV4 by just over 5,000 sales. Both had a strong month, as the CR-V was up 21.1 percent for the month and the RAV4 was up 16.8 percent for the month.

2017 Honda CR-V rear

The big gainers for the year were the Korean cousins, the Hyundai Tucson and the Kia Sportage, and the Jeep Compass, which actually outsold its cousin, the Patriot, for the month for the first time this year. Maybe Jeep made the right decision by naming the new model the Compass, as it will replace both the old Compass and the Patriot.

Compact crossover sales were strong across the board, with only the aging GM twins – the Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain – and the Jeep Cherokee having double-digit losses. The also-aging Dodge Journey was also down, but at a near-flat 1 percent loss. Both the Equinox and Terrain will be soon replaced with all-new models, but the Journey will soldier on for 2017.

Compact Crossover Sales – December 2016

Dec 2016 # Nov 2016 # Dec ’16/Nov ’16 % Dec 2016/2015 YTD 2016 # YTD 2016/2015 %
Nissan Rogue 40,477 26,629 52.0% 52.9% 329,904 14.9%
Honda CR-V 37,778 25,758 46.7% 21.1% 357,335 3.4%
Toyota RAV4 37,214 28,116 32.4% 16.8% 352,154 11.6%
Chevrolet Equinox 27,195 21,600 25.9% 24.6% 242,195 -12.8%
Ford Escape 25,788 23,012 12.1% -7.7% 307,069 0.2%
Subaru Forester 18,015 14,596 23.4% 7.3% 178,593 1.9%
Jeep Cherokee 16,380 11,479 42.7% -34.0% 199,736 -10.0%
Mazda CX-5 11,989 8,865 35.2% 8.9% 112,235 1.0%
Dodge Journey 9,768 7,133 36.9% 25.0% 106,759 -1.0%
Hyundai Tucson 8,676 7,616 13.9% 4.4% 89,713 41.1%
Jeep Compass 7,954 6,984 13.9% 10.0% 94,061 32.0%
Jeep Patriot 7,809 8,568 -8.9% -37.0% 121,926 1.0%
GMC Terrain 7,440 6,215 19.7% -22.9% 87,925 -21.5%
Kia Sportage 6,207 5,608 10.7% 2.7% 81,066 50.9%
VW Tiguan 5,575 4,516 23.4% 13.8% 43,638 21.7%
Mitsubishi Outlander 2,465 2,220 11.0% 27.3% 26,576 39.5%

 

Check out this related TFLcar video of the Nissan Rogue: