USA July 2015: Chevy Silverado and Nissan Rogue shoot up

Discounted before the facelifted 2016 model arrives, the Chevy Silverado is up 34%…

* See the Top 15 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 276 All-models by clicking on the title *

The U.S. light vehicle market starts the second semester in a very strong manner with sales up a solid 5% year-on-year to 1.510.941 units, lifting the year-to-date total above the 10 million mark at 10.033.999, up 4.5% or over 400.000 deliveries on 2014. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) shoots up to 17.55 million, the second-highest tally in a decade, and has now cracked the 17 million bar during 4 out of the last 7 months. Light trucks (a U.S. appellation combining pickup trucks and SUVs) once again are the sole responsible for the market gain with sales up 13% just as passenger cars dropped 3%, a picture also reflected in the year-to-date results where their respective evolutions are +13% (trucks) and -2% (cars). This turnaround is here to stay: July is the 23rd consecutive month where light trucks outsell cars, also driving  the average transaction price up which is great news for manufacturers.

…just as the Ford F-Series posts its first year-on-year gains since January.

Among the Top 10 groups, only Toyota Motor Co (+1%) and BMW (stable) registered gains below the market, with Subaru (+11%), Volkswagen Group (+9%), Honda Motor and Nissan Motor (both at +8%) faring the best. In the brands ranking, Ford is slightly under the market at +4% but remains #1 by far with 212.478 deliveries above Chevrolet at 188.790 (+8%) and Toyota at 183.500 (stable). In fact the entire Top 12 best-selling brands are identical to the year-to-date ranking, with Honda (131.409) keeping Nissan (120.439) at bay, Jeep (+23%) the best performer in the Top 20, Buick (+18%), Audi (+21%), Acura (+20%), Infiniti (+22%), Lincoln (+21%) and Mitsubishi (+24%) also posting healthy year-on-year increases.

Nissan Rogue sales are up 51% in July.

Over in the models ranking, the Ford F-Series may now be out of the woods, lodging its first year-on-year increase since January at +5% to 66.288 sales. This means its year-to-date total is now just 1% below the same period in 2014 at 423.468, a comfortable 91.000 above the Chevrolet Silverado on fire this month at +34% to 56.380 units. Despite sales down 4%, the Toyota Camry holds onto the #3 overall spot and #1 passenger car title with 38.435 sales, distancing the Ram Pickup (+1%) and Honda Accord (-2%) while the Nissan Altima surges 27% to 33.842 sales, the Honda CR-V is up 11% to #7 and the Ford Escape up 10% to #10.

While we await the 2016 model (above), the Toyota Tacoma is up 29% in July.

The three nameplates we said were game changers last month for our 1st Half 2015 US report continue to shake things up in July: the  Nissan Rogue posts the largest gain in the Top 20 (+51%) to its best July ever at 25.081 units and #13, the Chrysler 200 is up 85% to #28 and 15.108 sales and the Chevrolet Colorado is up 10 spots on June to #63. Other impressive gainers this month include the Ford Explorer up 23% to #15, Toyota Tacoma up 29% to #22, Chevrolet Traverse up 32% to #33, Hyundai Santa Fe up 35% to #35, GMC Acadia up 32% to #39 and Subaru Impreza up 39% to #41.

6.320 Jeep Renegade found a buyer in the U.S. in July.

Three compact SUVs launched in the past few months hit their highest ever U.S. ranking this month: the Jeep Renegade is up 17 spots on June to #71 with 6,320 sales, the Chevrolet Trax is up 5 to #72 and 6.111 units and the Lexus NX breaks into the U.S. Top 100 for the very first time at #95 with 4.337 sales. Meanwhile the Honda HR-V is down 14 ranks to #74 and 5.909 deliveries, the Volvo XC90 sees its sales grow 3-fold on July 2014 thanks to the new generation now hitting U.S. dealerships at #179 with 1.176 sales and the Fiat 500X is up 38 spots on last month to enter the Top 200 at #193 and 962 units.

Previous post: USA 1st Half 2015: Nissan Rogue, Chrysler 200 & Chevy Colorado game changers

Previous month: USA June 2015: Chevrolet Silverado closest to Ford F-Series in 6 years

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

Full July 2015 Top 15 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 276 All-models below.