USA July 2014: Toyota RAV4 at all-time record in market up 9%

The Toyota RAV4 delivers its highest ever monthly volume in the US in July.

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 260 models, Top 40 brands & Top 15 groups! *

The US light vehicle market delivers another very solid month in July: up 9% year-on-year to 1.435 million vehicles, which brings the year-to-date total to 9.6 million units, up 5% on 2013. The seasonally adjusted annualised sales rate (SAAR) hit 16.5 million in July, up from 15.8 million a year earlier, but down from the 17 million rate reached in June. The SAAR has now topped 16 million units for 5 consecutive months and 2014 is on track to end around 16.3 million sales, meaning it would be the 5th year of growth in a row and the strongest annual volume since 2006 when deliveries totalled 16.6 million units. The best performing manufacturers this month are Fiat-Chrysler up 20% thanks notably to the ever-impressive success of the all-new Cherokee, Toyota up 12% to edge out Ford Motor Co into 2nd place overall, Nissan up 11%, Ford up 10% and General Motors up 9% in spite of their recall crisis.

GMC sales are up 22% year-on-year in July.

Brand-wise, below Ford up 9% to 203,604 sales, Toyota overtakes Chevrolet to rank #2 at 183,342 units (+12%) vs. 175,155 (+8%). Honda loses 2% in 4th place, ahead of Nissan (+11%), Hyundai (+2% to a record July figure of 67,011) and Jeep up 41%: the American brand has now improved by 28% or more for 9 consecutive months! Notice also GMC up 22%, Subaru up 27%, Mazda up 17% (best July since 1993), Lexus up 19% (best July ever), Tesla up 28% and Maserati up 324%. However the big news in the brands sales charts is in the retail figures (excluding fleet sales), the ‘true’ sales to US consumers: Toyota becomes the most popular retail brand in the USA this month above Ford…

Toyota Corolla sales are up 26% year-on-year thanks to the new generation.

In the models ranking, the entire Top 5 best-sellers are identical to the year-to-date ranking: the Ford F-Series is back into positive territory after two months of year-on-year decline at +5% to 63,240 units, the Chevrolet Silverado is stable at 43,097 units, the Toyota Camry is up a very satisfying 15% to just under 40,000 sales, the Ram Pick-up is up 14% and the Honda Accord up 11%. Below, the Toyota Corolla takes advantage of the new generation to gain 26% yoy and reclaim the compact car crown off the Honda Civic, while the Toyota RAV4 is up a huge 37% to hit its highest ever monthly volume at 26,779 units, breaking into the US Top 10 for the first time in 4 years (since ranking #6 in March 2010) in 9th place, only 1,743 units below the Honda CR-V.

The Nissan Versa lodges the highest year-on-year increase inside the Top 50.

Further down, the Chevrolet Equinox shines at +37% in 12th position, the Ford Explorer is up 49% to #17, Nissan Sentra up 54% to #19, Nissan Versa up 74% to #23, Kia Soul up 45% to #26, Subaru Forester up 48% to #27, BMW 3/4 Series up 26% to #33, Chrysler Town & Country up 41% to #36, Chevrolet Tahoe up 51% to #40, GMC Terrain up 37% to #41, Chevrolet Camaro up 25% to #44 and the Chevrolet Traverse also up 25% to #46.

First appearance of the Porsche 918 Spyder in the US rankings.

Among recent launches, notice the Mercedes CLA up 23 spots on June to #123, the Lincoln MKC up 33 to #159, Porsche Macan up a further 8 to #179 and the Cadillac ELR up 6 to #240. Finally, we welcome 3 new models this month in the ranking: the BMW X4 lands directly at #232 with 262 sales, the Mercedes B-Class reappears in a new robe at #252 with 41 units and the spectacular Porsche 918 Spyder lands at #258 with 3 sales.

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Full July 2014 Top 260 models, Top 40 brands & Top 15 groups Ranking Tables below.