The Toyota Camry took the 2015 midsize sedan sales crown in a year when sales for most competitors were flat or down from the previous year.
Toyota moved almost 430,000 Camrys for the year, which is a negligible 0.2 percent increase over 2014. The Camry did have a strong December, with an 18 percent increase over December 2014.
The Honda Accord, despite a similar strong month where it had an 11 percent increase over 2014, couldn’t keep pace with the Camry. Yearly sales were down 8.4 percent from 2014. Honda doesn’t sell fleet vehicles, but the Camry would have to have over 20 percent of its sales to fleets to make up the difference. Unfortunately, manufacturers don’t provide a breakdown of fleet vs. consumer sales.
The third-place Nissan Altima and the fourth-place Ford Fusion were the only other cars to sell over 300,000 units. Both are down for the year from 2014, the Nissan nearly flat at 0.7 percent drop while the Ford was down 2.2 percent.
The Korean cousins both had strong Decembers. The Hyundai Sonata came in fifth and the Kia Optima came in sixth. Like many of the others on the list, yearly sales were relatively flat over 2014, the Sonata down 1.6 percent and the Optima up 0.2 percent.
It looks like the honeymoon period is over for the Chrysler 200. Its yearly totals are still good – with a whopping 52 percent increase – but lagging sales in the past few months have hurt. The old 200 was woefully inadequate in this class, so comparable sales were high, but now it’s competing with itself. Next year will be telling for Fiat-Chrysler’s only midsize sedan.
Midsize Sedan Sales – December 2015
| Dec 2015 # | Nov 2015 # | Dec ’15/Nov ’15 % | Dec ’15/’14 % | YTD 2015 # | YTD ’15/’14 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Camry | 37,299 | 30,945 | 20.5% | 18.0% | 429,355 | 0.2% |
| Honda Accord | 35,056 | 25,566 | 37.1% | 11.0% | 355,557 | -8.4% |
| Nissan Altima | 29,462 | 20,564 | 43.3% | -8.9% | 333,398 | -0.7% |
| Ford Fusion | 25,576 | 19,451 | 31.5% | 10.4% | 300,170 | -2.2% |
| Hyundai Sonata | 22,820 | 16,732 | 36.4% | 27.3% | 213,303 | -1.6% |
| Kia Optima | 13,682 | 13,048 | 4.9% | 15.7% | 159,414 | 0.2% |
| Chevrolet Malibu | 12,155 | 10,813 | 12.4% | -27.7% | 194,854 | 3.4% |
| Chrysler 200 | 8,579 | 10,332 | -17.0% | -47.0% | 177,889 | 52.0% |
| Subaru Legacy | 5,759 | 4,769 | 20.8% | 5.5% | 60,447 | 15.6% |
| Mazda Mazda6 | 4,168 | 3,089 | 34.9% | -3.6% | 57,897 | 8.8% |
| VW Passat | 3,596 | 2,759 | 30.3% | -56.4% | 78,207 | -19.1% |
| Buick Regal | 2,571 | 1,172 | 119.4% | 42.0% | 19,504 | -13.5% |
Check out this TFLcar video review of the “sporty” Camry, the 2015 Toyota Camry XSE:
