USA December 2015: Jeep shoots up 42% in market up 9%

The Jeep Cherokee, Compass & Renegade all post all-time record volumes in December. 

* See the Top 15 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 280 models by clicking on the title *

Five weekends and two extra business days mean December 2015 was the highest on record at 1.641.913 registrations, however the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Sales Rate (SAAR) is the lowest since June at 17.3 million. Trucks – including pickups, SUVs and crossovers – shoot up 19% this month whereas car are down a disappointing 4%. Double-digit year-on-year gains are frequent: Nissan North America is up 19% thanks to fleet sales up a gargantuan 79%, FCA extends its winning streak to 69 consecutive months at +13%, Toyota Motor is up 11% and American Honda up 10%. Ford Motor (+8%) and General Motors (+6%) are also in positive but the BMW Group (-18%) and Volkswagen Group (-2%) decline.

Oh my! Jeep smashes another record in December (1967 Jeep Jeepster pictured).

Brand-wise, volumes up 12% push Toyota to #2 overall with 191.457 units below Ford up 8% to 226.746 and kicking Chevrolet (+2%) down to #3. Honda (+12%) and Nissan (+18%) also outpace the market while in 6th place Jeep smashes its all-time monthly volume record again thanks to sales up 42% year-on-year. Jeep has now improved this record an astounding 8 times in the past two years: in March 2014 (57.983), April 2014 (59.754), May 2014 (70.203), March 2015 (71.584), April 2015 (71.759), May 2015 (79.652), August 2015 (80.804) and December 2015 (89.654). The Cherokee (24.049, +36% at a record #15), Renegade (8.975) and Compass (8.825 +78%) all deliver all-time monthly records while the Wrangler (15.591) and Patriot (11.206) both set December records.

Lexus also sets a new monthly record U.S. volume at 41.380.

The other notable brand breaking its all-time monthly volume record in December is Lexus despite a rather modest 4% improvement year-on-year to 41.380, spurred by increases by the NX (+77%), GS (+25%), GX (+15%) and RC (+64%). This was however not enough to get back above BMW to the title of #1 luxury brand in the U.S. as we study in a separate Full Year 2015 article. Other impressive gainers in the Top 20 include GMC (+13%), Subaru (+13%), Mazda (+18%), Kia (+19%) and Cadillac (+29%). Below, notice Infiniti (+26%), Bentley (+41%), Scion (+44%), Land Rover (+47%) and Volvo (+90%) boosted by the new XC90 up 46-fold on December 2014. No such luck for Volkswagen (-9%), BMW (-17%), Chrysler (-21%), Maserati (-24%), Mini (-24%), Jaguar (-29%) and Smart (-31%).

First appearance of the Tesla Model X in the U.S. charts at #250. Picture motortrend.com 

In the models ranking, the Ford F-Series is up a stunning 15% to 85.211 units, its best monthly score in exactly 10 years: since December 2005 when it sold 89.491. However the F-Series is still outsold by the GM full-size pickups with the Chevy Silverado (+9%) and GMC Sierra (+17%) adding up to 90.430 units. The Toyota Camry (+18%), Honda Civic (+29%) and Toyota RAV4 (+39%) shine in the Top 10 while below the Hyundai Sonata (+27%), Nissan Sentra (+28%), Ford Edge (+29%), Kia Sorento (+33%), Jeep Cherokee (+36%), Mazda CX-5 (+45%) and Nissan Rogue (+78%) deliver the largest year-on-year improvements in the Top 50. Among recent launches, the Mercedes GLC is up 116 spots on November to #109 and the Tesla Model X makes its first appearance at #250.

Previous post: USA Full Year 2015: Sales to break all-time record by 140.000 units

Previous month: USA November 2015: Volkswagen crumbles down 25%

One year ago: USA December 2014: BMW 3 Series breaks record again, market up 11%

Full December 2015 Top 15 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 280 models below.