USA July 2012: New gen Nissan Altima up to #5 UPDATED

Nissan Altima

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 260 All-models ranking! Click on title to see *

This is now a fact, the US new car market is on fire this year. Sales are up 9% year-on-year in July to 1,153,682 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 8,425,842 units, up an impressive 14% on 2011 and on course to hit 14 million by the end of the year for the first time since 2007. Sales are pulled by Honda (+47% year-on-year off a low, tsunami-affected base), Toyota (+27%), Nissan (+16%) and Chrysler (+13%) while Ford (-6%) and General Motors (-4%) drop. All in all, sales of Japanese and South Korean manufacturers hit a huge 46.9% this month vs. 42.8% a year ago and vs. 43.1% for Chrysler, Ford and GM combined!

Kia Optima

The Ford F-Series lodges its 12th consecutive month of year-on-year gain at +0.4% and 49,314 sales, 65% above the #2, the Toyota Camry up one spot on June and 11% year-on-year to 29,913 units. The Chevrolet Silverado is down 12% to #3 and 28,972 sales. Honda illustrates its impressive brand performance with the Accord up 70% to #4 with 28,639 units and the Civic up 78% at #6 and 25,004 sales. There are now two Hondas in the year-to-date Top 5 with the Civic at #4 and the Accord at #5.

Dodge Dart

The Nissan Altima is back in business with the new model now available in dealerships across the country: it is up 7 spots on June to #5 with 26,602 units. Hyundai also delivers a very solid month, with the Sonata up 3 spots to #11 with 20,978 sales and the Elantra up 4 to #14 with 18,512, and so does Kia with the Optima breaking into the monthly US Top 20 for the very first time at #20. Below the Nissan Rogue equalling its best-ever ranking at #21, after a record month in June the Chevrolet Malibu falls outside the Top 20 at 12,345 units (#22).

Chevrolet Spark

Other great performers in the Top 50 include the Nissan Sentra up 13 ranks on June to #32, the Chevrolet Express up 17 to #36 and the BMW 3 Series up 16 to #47. Further down, the Infiniti G is up 21 spots to #52, the Buick Verano up 9 to #80 and the Mazda CX-5 up 12 to #82. Two models launched last month improve their rankings in July: the Cadillac XTS is up 47 spots to #139 with 1,739 sales and the Dodge Dart is up 54 to #180 with 772 units. There is one newcomer in the ranking: the Chevrolet Spark landing directly at #150 with 1,460 sales.

Previous month: USA June 2012: Chevrolet Malibu at highest in 32 years!

6 months 2012: USA 6 months 2012: Discover all 269 best-selling models!

One year ago: USA July 2011: Ford Escape and Kia Sorento break records

Full July 2012 Top 260 All-models Ranking Table below.