USA 9 months 2014: Discover the Top 275 best-selling models

GMC Yukon sales are up 62% so far in 2014 thanks to the new model.

* See the Top 275 best-selling models and Top 40 brands by clicking on the title! *

As is the tradition on BSCB, after exploring the US sales charts for September (now with separate models and brands updates), we look into the year-to-date rankings to try and extract longer term trends. As a whole the US new light vehicle market is up a very satisfying 5.5% so far in 2014 to 12.43 million units, helped by another strong score in September (+9%). In the brands ranking, Ford keeps going against the market at -1% so far in 2014 to 1.8 million units, burdened by another 3% loss in September. Thanks to sales up 20% this month, Chevrolet is now 14.900 units above Toyota year-to-date vs. just 2.300 one month ago. However the long-term trend still favours Toyota (+5%) over the American carmaker (+3%). Just below Honda in 5th place, Nissan’s impressive run sees no sign of slowing down, lifted by a 22% surge in September to a record 978.392 units in 9 months, up 14% on 2013. Other great gainers this year include Jeep up 45%, Subaru up 20%, Ram up 25%, Mitsubishi up 30% and Maserati up 307%.

The transition to the new gen F-150 means Ford F–Series sales are stagnant in 2014 so far.

Model-wise, the Ford F-Series manages to remain at -0.4% on 2013 to 557.037 units in spite being in the midst of changing over to the new aluminium-bodied F-150. For the second straight month GM full-size pickups outsold the F-Series with the Chevy Silverado above 50,000 sales in September and for only the second time in 6 years. Nothing to be worried about at Ford with the F-Series a huge 175.000 units above the Silverado so far this year vs. 199.000 one year ago.Despite ranking third this month with a 8.000 sales advantage over the Toyota Camry, the Ram Pickup remains in 4th position year-to-date just under 320.000 sales (15.000 below the Camry), up 22% year-on-year mainly thanks to the addition of ecoDiesel versions to its 1500 base model. A Full Year 2014 third spot for the Ram is still in the cards, pending how smoothly the transition to the facelifted Camry goes. If that were to happen it would be only the second time in the past two decades (along with 2003) that pickup trucks monopolise the annual podium. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

The new generation lifts Kia Soul sales up 28% this year.

Inside the Top 50, a few changes on top: the Honda CR-V overtakes the Ford Fusion to rank #9 year-to-date while the Hyundai Elantra passes the Ford Focus to #15. The biggest gainers don’t change much: the Nissan Sentra up 44% to #22, Subaru Forester up 40% to #27, Mazda CX-5 up 29% to #49, Kia Soul up 28% to #28, Toyota RAV4 up 26% to #13, Hyundai Santa Fe also up 26% to #48, Nissan Rogue up 24% to #19, BMW 3&4 Series up 21% to #40 and the Nissan Versa up 20% to #32. The trend at play here is a simple one: out of 10 models gaining 20% or more in the Top 50, only one (the Ram Pickup) is American, there rest are either Japanese (6), Korean (2) or German (1). Far from being an isolated case, this trend replicates itself when we enlarge the count to the Top 100, adding another 6 Japanese and just one American – the Buick Encore up 59% to #92.

At #172, the Ram ProMaster is one of only 4 all-new models in the 2014 US Top 200.

We have to go down to #107 to find an American model gaining over 60%: the GMC Yukon takes full advantage of its new generation to grow 62% and 26 spots year-on-year to #107. The Chevrolet Corvette up 231% to #115 and GMC Savana up 101% to #120 also register significant sales movement, as do the Mercedes S-Class (+122%) and Fiat 500L (+137%). It’s a very lonely road at the top for the Jeep Cherokee, the only all-new model inside the Top 170 at #25 and 128,572 sales… The Ram ProMaster follows at #172, while the Lincoln MKC (#190) and Acura TLX (#197) break into the year-to-date Top 200 for the first time, with the Porsche Macan (#206, +1) not far off. The Ford Transit (+14 to #221) and BMW i3 (+11 to #225) also leap up.

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One year ago: USA 9 months 2013: Discover the Top 276 best-selling models!

Full 9 months 2014 Top 275 models and Top 40 brands Ranking Tables below.