USA Full Year 2020: Ford F-Series #1 for 39th year, Chevy Silverado & GMC Sierra up in market off -14.6%

The Ford F-Series is #1 in the USA for the 39th consecutive year.

Discover over 110 years of U.S. Historical Data here.

12/02 update: Now with Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover models sales.

After Q4 sales down just -2.4% and a December SAAR at 16.38 million vs. 17.11 million in December 2019, the U.S. new light vehicle market is down -14.6% year-on-year in 2020 to 14.59 million units. This is the lowest annual volume since the 14.49 million of 2012. Given the market was down -18% as of end September, consumer demand has remained solid (-2.2%) through the last quarter despite a surge in coronavirus cases. According to Cox Automotive, without supply constraints due to factory closures in the second quarter, the annual volume would have been higher.

Cox predicts a 2021 light vehicle market up 9% to 15.7 million units. Most manufacturers and dealers saw improved profitability thanks to limited supply and strong demand: the average transaction price is up 9% year-on-year to a record $38.077 in December according to J.D. Power. According to Edmunds, it is above $40.000 for the first time in history at $40.573. At the same time average incentives are down -7.4% year-on-year in December according to TrueCar (see table above). Light trucks, composed of pickups, crossovers, SUVs and vans, account for a whopping 79% of retail sales in December vs. 75% in December 2019.

The Chevrolet Silverado is up 3.2% in a market down -14.6%.

Among major automakers, General Motors (-11.9%) and Toyota Motor (-11.3%) gain share, the latter overtaking Ford Motor (-15.4%) to rank #2 overall. Nissan Motor/Mitsubishi (-32.7%), FCA (-17.5%) and American Honda (-16.3%) all fall faster than the market whereas Hyundai-Kia (-7.6%) is the only top carmaker to fall by the single digits. Looking at the brands ranking, Ford (-15.9%) loses share and sees its advantage over Toyota (-11.9%) thaw from 209.000 units in 2019 to 91.000 this year. Note Toyota was an easy #1 over Q4 at 568.000 units (+10.1%) vs. 518.000 (+4.5%) for Chevrolet and just 508.000 for Ford (-10.2%).

GMC Sierra sales are up 8.9% year-on-year.

Chevrolet (-11.4%) sports the best hold in the Top 6 and distances Honda (-16.6%) and Nissan (-33.2%). The remainder of the Top 10 entirely outpaces the market with Kia (-4.8%) and Hyundai (-9.7%) faring best with single-digit drops followed by Ram (-11.1%), Subaru (-12.6%) and Jeep (-13.9%). Further down, we find the only five year-on-year gainers in the U.S. market this year: Tesla (estimated at +6.3%), Bentley (+4.7%), Volvo (+1.8%), Alfa Romeo (+1.6%) and Mazda (+0.2%). There is a trend towards premium and luxury brands in 2020 as well-to-do buyers were potentially less affected by the coronavirus crisis: Lincoln (-6.1%), Porsche (-6.9%), Lexus (-7.7%), Mercedes (-8.9%), Lamborghini (-12.7%) and Acura (-13%) all outpace the market this year.

Over in the models ranking, the Ford F-Series (-12.2%) loses over 100.000 sales compared to 2019 but manages to stay above the market evolution despite a new generation changeover towards the end of the year. The F-Series has now been the best-selling pickup truck in the U.S. for 44 years (since 1977) and the most popular vehicle outright for 39 years (no interruption since 1982). The Chevrolet Silverado (+3.2%) brilliantly posts a year-on-year gain and reclaims the 2nd spot off the Ram Pickup (-11%) also above the market decline rate. This means the podium is 100% large pickups for the 7th consecutive year and the 8th time in the past two decades along with 2003 and every year since 2014.

The Toyota RAV4 is the #1 crossover in the U.S. for the 4th straight year.

The Toyota RAV4 (-3.9%) easily remains the best-selling crossover in the country for the 4th straight year, extending its lead over the Honda CR-V (-15.8%) and Chevrolet Equinox (-21.7%). For its part the Toyota Camry (-12.7%) remains the most popular passenger car in the U.S. and climbs two spots in the overall ranking to #6, distancing the Honda Civic (-19.8%) at #8: there are now only two cars in the Top 10, the least ever in U.S. history. The Camry celebrates 19 consecutive years as the U.S. best-selling car, recording 23 wins in the past 24 years (only interruption by the Honda Accord in 2001). This means 2018 marks the 25th straight year a Japanese model is the best-selling car in the U.S., the last American sedan to be crowned #1 being the Ford Taurus in 1996.

There are two newcomers in the 2020 Top 10: the GMC Sierra is up 8.9% and 7 spots to #9 and the Toyota Tacoma (-4%) up two ranks to #10. Year-on-year gainers are very rare further down and include the Ford Explorer (+20.9%), Ranger (+13.3%), Chevrolet Blazer (+62.8%), Hyundai Palisade (+185%) and Jeep Gladiator (+93.6%). The Tesla Model Y (#54) is estimated to be the most successful 2020 launch above the Kia Seltos (#88), Buick Encore GX (#89), Chevrolet Trailblazer (#108) and Kia K5 (#115). The Ford Bronco Sport lands at #225 with over 5.000 sales in December alone.

Previous month: USA November 2020: Calendar quirk, tight supply send market down -12%, Toyota stable

Previous year: USA 2019: Ford F-Series #1 for 38th year running, Ram Pickup #2 for the 1st time, light trucks at 72% share in market down -1.5%

Two years ago: USA 2018: Market up 0.6%, light trucks up 7.7% to record 69.1% share, cars down 13% to lowest since 1958, Jeep, Subaru, Ram break records

Full December 2020 sales for selected 122 models below.

Full Q4 2020 Top 15 groups, Top 40 All-brands and Top 304 All-models vs. Q4 2019 figures below.

Full Year 2020 Top 15 groups, Top 40 All-brands and Top 316 All-models vs. Full Year 2019 figures below.