USA April 2015: Chevrolet Equinox hits best ranking and volume ever

The Chevrolet Colorado is the fastest-selling pickup truck in the country in April (10 days on lot).

* See the Top 15 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 274 models by clicking on the title *

U.S. new light vehicle sales are up a solid 4.6% year-on-year in April to 1.454.951 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 5.409.495 deliveries, up 5.4% on 2014. The seasonally adjusted sales rate (SAAR) was down to 16.52 million from 17.12 million in March, but up from 16.06 million in April 2014. Automotive News quoted Bill Fay, Toyota Division general manager, as saying “The industry is off to its best start since 2001, the last time it sold 17 million vehicles.” Once again light trucks are pulling the market up: +10.5% vs. -1.5% for cars, with trucks accounting for 54% of total sales in April and outselling cars for the 20th consecutive month. Crossovers and SUVs re purely and simply on fire: +19% and +9% respectively, with pickup trucks up 8%.

2016 Chevrolet Equinox. The outgoing gen in runout mode is up to a best-ever #7.

All Top 10 manufacturers bar Honda Motor Co (-2%) register year-on-year gains, with General Motors (+6%), Ford Motor (+5%), Toyota Motor (+2%) and Fiat Chrysler (+6%) in line with the industry. Brand-wise, below Ford (+5%), Chevrolet is back above Toyota both this month (187.837 vs. 173.144) and year-to-date (664.393 vs. 659.606), Jeep (+20%) is ahead of Hyundai (+3%) for 6th place overall, Subaru jumps 18% but remains at #9 and GMC soars 20% to crack the Top 10 for the 5th time in the past 6 months. Notice also Lexus up 12%, Mercedes up 13%, Cadillac up 14%, Lincoln up 20%, Mini up 25%, Mitsubishi and Chrysler both up 26% and Porsche up 28%. Thanks to 29.188 sales in April (excluding Sprinter), Mercedes reclaims the title of #1 premium brand in the U.S. so far in 2015 but just: 107.344 deliveries in 4 months vs. 105.444 for BMW and 103.056 for Lexus.

The redesigned 200 (+358%) helps push Chrysler sales up 26% in April.

Over on the models charts, below an unchanged Top 5 (F-Series, Silverado, Ram Pickup, Camry and Corolla), the compact crossover craze is clearly apparent: the Honda CR-V tops the brand’s lineup at #6 and 29.452 units, the Chevrolet Equinox is up a smashing 42% year-on-year to post its best-ever month and ranking at #7 and 28.856 deliveries thanks to runout prices for the outgoing generation, the Ford Escape is up two spots on March to #10, the Toyota RAV4 is up 22% on April 2014 to #12, the Nissan Rogue is up 44% to #15 and the Jeep Cherokee is up 27% to a record 19.072 sales, also equalling its best-ever ranking at #17 – also hit last October and November. Overall the compact crossover segment is up 22% to 222.007 sales in April, accounting for over 15% of the overall market and outselling both pickups and midsize cars (207.452 and 210.897 units respectively).

The new Ford Edge only stays an average of 15 days on dealers lot before being purchased.

Other fantastic growth rates inside the Top 100 include the completely redesigned Chrysler 200 up 348% to #18 and 18.850 deliveries, the Ford Mustang up 81% to #31, the Ford Edge up 78% year-on-year and 18 spots on March to #32, the VW Golf up 3-fold to #77 and the Subaru Legacy up 69% to #78. The new Chevrolet Colorado advances to #62 and 7.010 units, taking a clear advantage over other mid-sized pickup the Nissan Frontier (#73 and 5.827 sales) while the segment leader, the Toyota Tacoma, is still a fair way ahead at #27 and 15.656 units. The Colorado is the fastest-selling pickup truck in the country for the third month in a row, only staying an average of 15 days on dealer lots in April before being snapped up by customers. Only the Ford Edge does better among light trucks: 10 days.

The Jeep Renegade is already within the 100 most popular nameplates in the U.S.

The Jeep Renegade is headed straight towards blockbuster status, breaking into the U.S. Top 100 for its first full month of sales at #91 and 4.214 units, while we welcome two new nameplates in the ranking this month: the Mercedes AMG GT at #238 with 205 sales and the Land Rover Discovery Sport at #247 with 147 deliveries. Notice also the Ford Transit up a further 7 spots to #41, the Acura TLX up 13 ranks to #97, the Chevrolet Trax at #109, Lexus NX at #111, GMC Canyon at #132, Mercedes GLA at #143, Lincoln MKC at #147 and Porsche Macan at #164.

Previous post: USA 1st Quarter 2015: Trucks lift market up 6%

Previous month: USA March 2015: Hyundai Elantra, Nissan Rogue, Chrysler 200 and Jeep Cherokee hit all-time record volumes

One year ago: USA April 2014: Jeep up 52% to break record thanks to Cherokee

Full April 2015 Top 15 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 274 models below.