USA 11 months 2013: Discover the Top 278 best-selling models!

December 6, 2013
Matt Gasnier

GMC Sierra – Pick-up trucks have brought the US market up big time in 2013.

* See the Top 278 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

After going through November sales figures, we now follow the BSCB tradition to try and extract some longer-term trends by looking into the year-to-date charts. And with only one month to go before 2013 is over, this is akin to a Full Year study! So far new light vehicle sales in the USA are up a fantastic 8% on 2012 to 14.24 million units, to be compared to the 14.49 million units reached over the Full Year 2012 and on track to deliver the best year this country has seen since 2007.

The Subaru Forester delivers the biggest year-on-year sales gain in the Top 50.

Even though pick-up trucks are still the major force behind these excellent figures, it’s the Subaru Forester that delivers the biggest year-on-year increase in the Top 50, up 63% to #40 thanks to the new model and lifting Subaru up 30% year-on-year to best-ever sales. The Toyota RAV4 up 25% to #16, Hyundai Elantra up 24% to #13, and Ford Fusion up 22% to #11 follow. The best-selling pick-ups are just below: the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado are simply majestic atop the ranking at +19% each, Ram Pick-up at +22% and GMC Sierra at +20%.

The Jeep Cherokee is the most satisfying launch of 2013…

Beyond the Top 50 we have the Nissan Pathfinder up 136% to #53 solely due to the new generation, the Mazda CX-5 up 95% to #62, Toyota Avalon up 166% to #68, Dodge Durango up 48% to #75, Acura RDX up 59% to #91 and the VW Beetle up 55% to #92, pretty much the only Volkswagen in great shape this year. Notice also the Nissan Leaf up 141% to #140 vs. -1% and #138 for its archenemy the Chevrolet Volt, the Range Rover already up 66% to #177, Porsche Boxster up 71% to #221, Porsche Cayman up 587% to #230 and the Mercedes G-Class up 97% to #236.

…followed by the Mercedes CLA…

Perhaps the most surprising characteristic of the US car market this year is the low number of new nameplates entering the market even though sales are definitely on a steep growing curve. Only 12 all-new models have made their appearance so far this year, that a bit more than one a month (vs. 3 to 6 in China) and this actually balances off all the cars signing out this year: we have 278 vehicles in the ranking in 2013 vs. 277 one year ago. Keep in mind the entire Suzuki range (4 models) will disappear altogether in January, and this makes for a gloomy picture…

…and the Infinti Q50.

We have to scroll all the way down to #119 to find the best performing all-new entrant: the Buick Encore with 29,195 sales, a so-so result. The Infiniti Q50 is much more impressive even though it only ranks #166 with 13,248 sales for now, however it reached #67 in November. The Mercedes CLA is second most satisfying launch of the year, racking up 10,828 units in only 3 months (#178) with a peak at #76 in October. The Jeep Cherokee, after its launch was delayed multiple times, made a big splash in November, landing directly at #35 with 10,169 sales, making it the most successful launch of the year.

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