Toyota RAV4 Heats Up Compact Crossover Sales in July

2013 toyota rav4 all new
2014 Toyota RAV4

Compact crossovers are still hot and the Toyota RAV4 squeaked into the second sales spot for the month of July 2014 with a growth of 31.8% over the same month of last year. It sold just 221 units less than the still popular Ford Escape, which is in third for the month and still has a firm grip on the second place spot for year-to-date (YTD) numbers.

At the top of the heap sits the Honda CR-V with not only the most units moved for the month of July with 28,522 cars rolling out the door, but with the most units sold YTD. Honda has moved 183,214 units of its CR-V through July of 2014.

Chevrolet Equinox also had a very good July with 25,321 units going out the door. There are only 3,201 units that separate the top four sellers for the month making this a fairly tight race. The Ford Escape and the Honda CR-V are still in a fight for segment supremacy while the Chevy Equinox and the RAV4 are in a fight for third.

Nissan Rogue sales slowed down in July, but are still up 20.7% for the year. The all-new Jeep Cherokee and the redesigned Subaru Forester are still on stellar sales trajectories with the Cherokee in sixth and the Forester with the biggest improvement YTD of 46.8%.

2013 kia sportage awd
2014 Kia Sportage

The GMC Terrain passed Mazda CX-5 for eighth with a big month, although the CX-5 is still doing very well. The other big gain came from the Subaru XV CrossTrek, which is happily selling alongside all the other successful Subaru models of late.

The biggest gain for the month of July came from the Kia Sportage which grew a huge 74.9%.

Only one model on this list is showing a year-to-date loss and there are no fewer than fifteen competitors overall. No doubt this is one of the hottest segments around and will continue to be for some time.

Compact Crossover – July 2014

July 2014 # July ’14 / ’13 % YTD 2014 # YTD ’14 / ’13 %
Honda CR-V 28,522 0.7% 183,214 5.9%
Toyota RAV4 26,779 31.8% 143,731 19.0%
Ford Escape 26,558 18.9% 179,448 0.3%
Chevrolet Equinox 25,321 36.8% 146,152 0.9%
Nissan Rogue 16,618 -2.2% 115,920 20.7%
Jeep Cherokee 14,827 N/A 95,259 N/A
Subaru Forester 14,524 47.6% 88,924 46.8%
GMC Terrain 10,767 37.1% 61,454 5.0%
Mazda CX-5 9,109 16.4% 59,384 29.4%
Jeep Patriot 7,793 3.0% 51,721 13.0%
Subaru XV 6,603 42.4% 40,368 35.8%
Jeep Compass 5,411 4.0% 38,503 20.0%
Kia Sportage 4,412 74.9% 24,368 36.2%
Hyundai Tucson 3,767 -4.6% 28,103 7.4%
VW Tiguan 2,121 -6.6% 15,295 -14.1%

Check out this fun and informative TFLcar first drive featuring the 2014 Jeep Cherokee and the top three sellers.

Andre Smirnov
Andre Smirnov

Andre Smirnov is a life-long automotive enthusiast, writer, reporter, and software engineer. He has been writing and reporting at TFL since 2011. When not working or spending time with the family – you can find him tinkering in the garage or simply ‘going for a drive’.