California (USA) Q3 2013: Toyota Prius & Honda Civic shine

Toyota Prius

* See the Top 15 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

Better late than never! Finally I can share with you data for new light vehicle sales in California over the third Quarter of 2013. The market is up 12% year-on-year over the period to 447,054 registrations vs. a 8% growth in the US market overall. Year-to-date gains for both California and the US are exactly the same, with Californian sales adding up to 850,712 units, almost 100,000 more than at the same stage last year. It is fascinating to observe the market shares of different nationalities in California vs. the US as a whole: Japanese brands account for a staggering 48% of sales here vs. 37% in the US, domestic brands are at a paltry 29% vs. 46% in the US and Europeans at 15.6% vs. 9.1%.

The BMW 3 Series is the 9th best-selling vehicle in California over the period.

Model-wise, the Toyota Prius continues to lead the way and even improves its market share during Q3 to 4.6% thanks to 20,076 sales, adding up to 54,063 and 4.2% year-to-date. Keep in mind though that this figure includes the Prius C and V models. In fact the entire Top 8 best-sellers over Q3 is identical to the year-to-date ranking, with the Honda Civic also shining at #2 with 18,782 units and 4.3% vs. 3.9% year-to-date. The Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Corolla follow, while the BMW 3 Series is up one spot to #9, the VW Jetta back up to #11, Toyota RAV4 at #14 vs. #16 year-to-date and the Kia Optima up to #15. Notice also the Mercedes E-Class at 1% share and 4,241 sales, the Tesla Model S selling 1,840 units and the Mercedes CLA at 422 sales.

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Full Q3 2013 Top 15 models Ranking Table below.