USA 5 months 2014: Toyota Camry back on podium

The Lincoln MKC is one of 3 all-new models to pop up in the US ranking this month.

* See the Top 266 best-selling models and Top 38 brands by clicking on the title! *

As is the tradition on BSCB, after going through May figures for the US we now explore year-to-date data to try and extract longer-term trends. After 5 months the American new light vehicle market is up a healthy 5% year-on-year to 6.7 million units, and there is one significant change in the year-to-date Top 10 models this month: below traditional leaders the Ford F-Series (+2%) and Chevrolet Silverado (-1%) both relatively stable, the Toyota Camry (+6%) passes the Ram Pick-up (+21%) to reclaim the third spot it held over the Full Year 2013 with 181,876 units vs. 170,711.

The Acura MDX is the fastest growing model in the Top 80 so far in 2014.

The Nissan Altima remains the 2nd best-selling passenger car in the country in 5th place overall thanks to sales up 7% to 150,342 units, ahead of the Honda Accord (-5%), Toyota Corolla (+8%) and Ford Fusion (1%) with the Honda Civic (+5%) and CR-V (+8%) rounding up the Top 10. The greatest gainers in the Top 50 also include the Chevrolet Cruze at #12 (+18%), Nissan Rogue at #19 (+33%), Nissan Sentra at #22 (+37%), Subaru Forester at #31 (+51%), Hyundai Santa Fe at #45 (+29%) and Mazda CX-5 at #47 (+36%).

Most successful newcomer of the past 12 month by far: the Jeep Cherokee.

If we broaden the net to the Top 100, the fastest growing models are the Lexus IS at #92 (+122%), Buick Encore at #94 (+96%), Acura MDX at #80 (+79%) and BMW X3 at #90 (+75%). As far as all-new models are concerned, only 13 have entered the US ranking over the past 12 months, including 3 in May alone: the Porsche Macan arrives at #233 with 1,263 sales, the Lincoln MKC ranks 243rd with 677 units and the BMW i3 is #249 with 336 sales. Still at the bottom of the ladder for now, with the only newcomer cracking the Top 100 for now being the Jeep Cherokee at #26 with 67,095 units. It is followed by the Infiniti Q50 at #110, Mercedes CLA at #143 and Mitsubishi Mirage at #164.

2014 is a record year for Nissan in the USA.

Brand-wise, below the traditional podium composed of Ford at 1,006,710 sales (-2%), Chevrolet at 839,341 (+2%) and Toyota at 822,698 (+4%), Nissan edges out Honda to step up to 4th place thanks to sales up a magnificent 14% to 544,067 units vs. 543,668 for Honda, stable year-on-year. Jeep is up an astounding 49% year-on-year to #7 with 275,796 sales, Subaru is up 19% to #10, RAM up 24%, BMW up 12%, Lexus up 19%, Infiniti up 18%, Lincoln up 21%, Mitsubishi up 34% and Maserati up 357%.

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One year ago: USA 5 months 2013: Discover the Top 270 best-selling models

Full January-May 2014 Top 266 models and Top 38 brands Ranking Tables below.