USA May 2012: Chevrolet Malibu hits highest volume in 10 years

Chevrolet Malibu

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 257 All-models ranking! Click on title to see *

At +26% year-on-year, chances are the US car market will grow faster than China this month! Yep, this is rare enough to be bolded in my article… So it looks like the American consumer wants to buy cars again, and in a big way with sales up to 1,334,660 in May and 5,986,605 year-to-date, up a brilliant 13% on 2011. The driver of this growth is passenger cars, even though trucks fare very well too. Note General Motors reports its highest monthly sales in almost 3 years with 245,256 units in May, its highest tally since August 2009. Yes, it does sound like the economic crisis has well and truly passed in the US.

Toyota Camry

The Top 2 cars stay unchanged: 33rd consecutive time in pole position for the Ford F-Series, up 29% year-on-year to 54,836 units and 6th month in a row at #2 and #1 passenger car for the Toyota Camry with 39,571 sales, up a massive 110% on a month of May 2011 disrupted by the Japanese tsunami. The Chevrolet Silverado is back to its usual third place at +22%.

Honda Civic Coupe

The Honda Civic is finally getting the boost its ‘new’ generation should have induced months ago, up 83% yoy to 33,490 sales and #4, its highest ranking since August 2010 and its best monthly volume since August 2009. The Toyota Corolla gets a similar treatment: up 87% to #5 and 31,847 units, its highest position since February 2011 and best volume since December 2009. In third place last month, the Honda Accord delivers another solid performance in May at #6 and 29,737 sales, up 75%.

But this month’s best performer is the new gen Chevrolet Malibu, up 2 spots to #7, its highest ranking since June 2011, and selling 29,579 units which is the nameplate’s strongest month in at least 10 years, beating the 25,600 sales it delivered in May 2011. The Toyota Prius falls to #14 but is up 210% year-on-year and the Nissan Altima is slowly improving again while the new gen reaches all dealerships across the country to #13. The Kia Optima is up 5 spots to #25.

Acura ILX

Further down, notice the Lexus RX up 18 ranks to #38, the VW Passat above 10,000 monthly sales for the third consecutive month at #42, the BMW 5 Series up 21 spots to #67, the Fiat 500 breaking the 4,000 monthly units milestone for the first time at #86, the Mazda CX-5 up to #87, the Ford Flex up 20 ranks to #94, the Buick Verano up 7 to #101, the Acura RDX up 22 to #106, the VW Beetle up 12 to #111 and the Infiniti JX up 7 to #114. The Chevrolet Volt stays #145.

Scion FR-S

There are 3 all-new entrants in the US models ranking this month: the Subaru BRZ is the most successful, landing at #225 with 271 sales, followed by the Acura ILX at #231 and 168 units and the Scion FR-S, none other than a rebadged Toyota 86, at #240 with… 86 sales.

Previous month: USA April 2012: Toyota Prius up to record 5th place

One year ago: USA May 2011: Japan quake aftermath sends models ranking mad

Full May 2012 Top 257 Ranking Table below.