The last post of ours listed America's Top 10 Best-selling Car Brands of 2018. While it was business as usual with Ford topping the list for the ninth straight year, it doesn't clearly show the phenomenon that's happening worldwide in general and the United States of America in particular.
This list - giving you a sneak peek of America's Top 20 Best-selling Cars of 2018 - clearly brings that out.
Did you have a look? Yes, we're talking about the bloodshed that's happening in the market with trucks, SUVs and crossovers going for the kill and sedans coming off worse in the fight.
Big Three's fight for pick-up truck supremacy intensifies
At the top, there are no changes. Ford's F-Series reigns supreme to become the best-selling passenger vehicle in America for an unprecedented 37th year in a row! While that's an incredible feat, the folks at Ford have to look over their shoulders as their arch-rivals are at them with full force. Armed with the new-generation Silverado and the all-new 1500 respectively, Chevrolet and Ram are going all guns blazing with the latter gaining significantly to end 2018 right behind the Chevy.
With 2019 being the first full year for these two trucks, the American pick-up truck slug-fest just got more intense. Watch this space!
Crossovers rule the roost, sedans bow out
While the Big Three pick-ups have always been America's favourites, right behind them - for decades - have been the Japanese sedans. Toyota's Camry and Corolla, Honda's Accord and Civic and Nissan's Altima and Sentra have been big-sellers and regularly found a place in the Top 10 list. That's changing quite rapidly. Crossovers from the same three brands now occupy those slots with Toyota's RAV4 inching ahead of Nissan's Rogue and both steering clear of Honda's CR-V. Joining them with an impressive 15% gain over 2017 is Chevrolet's Equinox.
The Camry, Civic, Corolla and Accord have all lost sales vis-a-vis 2017 and the trend is all set to continue for the foreseeable future. In fact, sedans from Ford and Chevrolet that regularly featured in the Top 20 list have bowed out already with both the car-makers abandoning sedans altogether with their announcements to focus on popular and profitable SUVs and crossovers. That's a shame because some of these sedans on sale are the best to wear these nameplates since they were introduced. It's a classic case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ford's Escape and Explorer are next on the list, both on a decline compared to the previous year. The next-generation Explorer and Escape are slated for debuts this year and the Blue Oval can't bring them soon enough.
Bringing up the bottom of the Top 20 list are the two sedans from Nissan with the Altima losing a whopping 18% and the Sentra managing a respectable show.
Jeeps are red hot in America
If there's one brand that's climbing up the ladder quick and steady, it's got to be Jeep. The all-new Wrangler that debuted in 2018 and the facelifted Compass that went on sale in 2017 are blazing the charts with a 26% and 41% gain respectively. The Grand Cherokee - that's on the last leg of its life cycle - did well too and lost just 7% compared to its 2017 numbers.
Outside the Top 20, Compass is yet another Jeep that's on the ascent. Sales almost doubled compared to 2017 and Jeep also has it's Gladiator pick-up going on sale next year. Jeep is sure on a roll!
Just outside the Top 20 are some of the erstwhile occupants of the list like the GMC Sierra, Hyundai Elantra and Ford Fusion. With the rapid pace at which sedans are running out of favour, expect this list to throw up a lot of surprises in the years ahead. We're having our fingers crossed.
No comments:
Post a Comment