USA 6 months 2013: Ford F-Series strongest in 7 years, Honda Accord getting close to Toyota Camry for #1 passenger car title

The Ford F-Series delivers its best US sales since 2006.

* See the Top 273 All-models ranking by clicking on the title! *

As is the tradition on BestSellingCarsBlog, after looking at June sales in detail we go into the year-to-date ranking in a little more depth to try and extract some longer-term trends. Except this month is special: as we are halfway through 2013, this is the first article in a series that will cover the Top 20 markets in the world and look into their YTD rankings so far in 2013. The US new car market is in great shape this year, up 8% on 2012 to 7.8 million units. The first interesting element to notice is the stable number of models ranked. Keeping in mind most supercars (Ferrari, Lamborghini…) don’t appear here as their manufacturers don’t share detailed figures, we have 273 models selling at least one unit over the period in the US vs. 272 at the same time last year, and only 11 all-new models (which means as many left the ranking), to be compared with over 50 in China… A surprisingly not dynamic ranking indeed.

The Dodge RAM achieves the biggest ranking progression in the Top 10: +5 spots to #5.

The 2nd striking element looking at the 6 months ranking vs. last year is how well pick-up trucks are going. If you are a regular BSCB reader, this won’t come as a surprise, but still: the Ford F-Series is up 22% to 367,486 sales which is its highest first-half figure in 7 years, since 2006 when it sold 400,177 units. Even more impressive: this figure is more than double what the F-Series sold in the same period in 2009 (179,632)! The Chevrolet Silverado is up 25% to 242,586,  reclaiming the #2 spot it held up until 2011, and the Dodge Ram delivers the best ranking progression in the Top 10, up 5 spots and 23% to land at #5, its highest H1 ranking since 2007 when it placed #4.

Can the Honda Accord become the #1 Passenger Car in the US for the first time since 2001?

Third big longer-term trend to notice: the fight for the title of best-selling Passenger Car in the US, held by the Toyota Camry for 15 of the last 16 years, is starting to heat up. The Camry is struggling a little this year: down 3% to 207,626 sales in a market up 8% which is equivalent to a 10% market share drop. Reversely, the Honda Accord is taking full advantage of its facelift, gaining 20% to 186,860. Granted, there are still over 20,000 units separating the two models (down from almost 60,000 last year), but if Honda gets really aggressive on pricing, the Accord could potentially snatch the PC title in extremis which would be a first for the nameplate since 2001.

The Ford Fusion delivers its highest ever first-half sales this year.

If the new generation Nissan Altima has failed to ignite the nameplate’s sales so far (-7% to #6), just below we welcome the first of two newcomers in the Top 10 over the period: the Ford Fusion is up 4 spots and 18% to #7 while the Ford Escape is up 3 and 23% to #10, both models lodging their highest ever first-half sales at 161,146 and 156,626 respectively. They have kicked the Honda CR-V (-1 to #11) and Chevrolet Malibu (-7 to #16) out of the Top 10 in the process.

The Subaru XV Crosstrek is the best-selling all-new model in the US over the period.

Let’s also salute the solid showings of the Chevrolet Cruze (+17% to #13), Equinox (+14% to #14) and Ford Explorer (+26% to #19) while the Hyundai Elantra delivers the biggest year-on-year progression in the Top 40 at +29% to #15. For its part the Subaru Forester is the best performer in the Top 50 at +37% to #49 while the Nissan Pathfinder is up 203% to #52. The Dodge Dart, launched in June 2012 (208 sales) does not qualify as an all-new model anymore and disappoints somewhat at #56. There is only one new model in the Top 100: the Subaru XV Crosstrek at #83 with 25,090 sales, which is reasonable but doesn’t set the house on fire either, notably compared to the Mazda CX-5’s 38,057 sales. It has nevertheless helped Subaru achieve an all-time record first-half sales in the US.

Previous post: USA June 2013: Chevrolet Cruze and Equinox hit best-ever volumes

One year ago: USA 6 months 2012: Discover the Top 269 All-models ranking!

Full 6 months 2013 Top 273 All-models Ranking Table below.