Sales: Mid/Large CUVs, February 2011

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Competition may be tightening for midsized sedan sales, but the battle is already well underway in the Mid/Large CUV category. Seven vehicles find themselves within 5k sales of each other at the top of this chart, making for something of a knife fight for large CUV buyers. Even much-hyped new entries from the Explorer and Grand Cherokee franchises (please note: February 2010 volume for both represents sales of the previous model) haven’t broken the stalemate in the war to become King of the Krossovers… in fact, Explorer isn’t even in the bunch battling for first place. Add up the volume, and the Lambda platform is the winner, but this segment still lacks clarity. Let the competition continue!

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • SherbornSean SherbornSean on Mar 15, 2011

    Interesting that the Edge has muscled its way to the top, considering the near universal disgust reviewers have had for its new Sync systems. In parallel, BMW went to the top of the luxury sales charts at the time it was introducing iDrive, which provoked similar reactions. My take is that consumers are willing to invest the time it takes to learn a new system-- they already do it every 18-24 months with a phone/PDA, so why not every 36 months with a car?

    • EBimmer EBimmer on Mar 15, 2011

      "Universal disgust" is grossly overstating the summary of Sync reviews I've read. Yes, there's a learning curve, but there's no doubt in my mind that Sync advances technology in a positive way. I get a chance to drive rentals with business travel...Hop ino a new car and check out the new features, switchology, etc. Usually there's not much to learn and 90% is similar from car to car. But, there are also no advances either. Sync's a game changer. It will a couple minutes longer to learn Sync, but soon it will be just like any other car. Other companies will go to touch screen/improved voice recognition and it will be second nature. Luddites will resist.

  • Diseasel Diseasel on Mar 15, 2011

    Anyone else think it's sad that the current generation Outback is considered a midsize SUV? Not to say that it isn't a good vehicle-- I'm sure it is-- but it seems to have gotten horribly bloated lately.

    • Dan Dan on Mar 16, 2011

      It needed some bloat, I would have likely bought an OBXT in 2006 if I'd fit in it. No headroom, no elbow room, no knee room. (And yet on paper it had more head and legroom than almost anything else on the market, which shows what brochure numbers are worth.) It didn't need the ugly though.

  • GarbageMotorsCo. GarbageMotorsCo. on Mar 16, 2011

    That's a lot of Lambdas sold, hopefully the dealers are stocking up on camshafts and timing chains for their inevitable replacements.

  • Romanjetfighter Romanjetfighter on Mar 16, 2011

    Acadia with Brick Leather interior and Captain Chairs.... yummy. Only GM product I daydream about, aside from the Corvette. The interior is miles better than the Highlander, which tends to have very squeaky hard plastics.

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