The Top 10 Of June

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: July 3rd, 2011

Each month, we follow the ups and downs of the car business.

Cars.com has a different hit-parade: Which models sell best? Here are the American Top 10 of June. Uncommented. The numbers speak for themselves.

#BertelSchmitt #Sales #Top10June

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments

Join the conversation

6 of 191 comments

John Horner on Jul 03, 2011

I miss the TTAC of old. Somehow the discussions had more depth and less vitriol. The term "best and brightest" has always been a bit tongue in cheek, but seems to be more firmly so as the months go by. It seems that all of the politics around bailouts and such have moved TTAC more into the realm of a typical auto blog and less out of the realm of being something really special. Hopefully I'm wrong. If anyone wants to comment on a particular vehicle, it is much better when done from a point of personal experiences (as some here have done), rather than the "Oh yeah, well Car and Driver hates it" or "But, Consumer Reports are all idiots" lines of discussion which are fruitless, pointless and annoying. As to the top ten list, there are some actual interesting facts in there. Honda not having any vehicle in the top ten is a huge wake up call. Perhaps some of that is tsunami related, but that is clearly not the whole story. Likewise, Hyundai making an appearance in the top 10 is big news. Chevy having the best selling car is big news. Ram trucks being really back in the game is noteworthy. That both the Fusion and the Malibu are outselling the Camry and Accord is a sea change. Surely some of these ranking may change in the months ahead as the effects of the tsunami subside, but for industry observers these are all unusual data points which make the ears perk up a bit.

Like Reply
- See 3 previous
- Dragonphire on Jul 04, 2011
  
  "It seems that all of the politics around bailouts and such have moved TTAC more into the realm of a typical auto blog and less out of the realm of being something really special. Hopefully I’m wrong." You unfortunately are not. I have been apart of this forum for about two years now..It seems that some of the commenter are the same folks that I left other sights for. Lack of open mindedness and juvenile comments overall. I actually like and trust CR (to a point) with acknowledgement that they do make mistakes but are very good at testing "PRODUCTS" and I take everything they say with a grain of salt. When I bought my 2008 CX9 they said in 07 it was below average reliability. Well 3 years and 57k miles later only one issue that I fixed my self. When it comes to paying nearly 42 grand for something I buy what I want not what someone recommends. I use CR and other sites like this as a bridge of my own knowledge. Most on this site (editor and contributors) don't really like the CX9 that much. I don't belittle them for doing so. That's why when I am buying I drive everything in its segment that is 10grand above and below to get a perspective. I used to hate Honda when I was younger. I always thought that there reputation was over blown. Now several years later I realized that they deserved their reputation just as the domestics deserved theirs. Now I like the MDX a lot (nearly bought one) and the TL is a nice care that I wouldn't mind having. So John even though I haven't always with your comments I hope your are wrong.
  
  Like
- Edward Niedermeyer on Jul 04, 2011
  
  I generally agree with the disappointment expressed over trends in commentary here, although I don't subscribe to the idea that TTAC once enjoyed a "golden age" in which we were ruled by pure reason, untroubled by weak commentary, fatuous partisanship and general ass-clownery. Like most honest endeavors, this site is a constant balancing act, with the commentary pendulum always swinging between openness and restrictions, quality and quantity, constructiveness and blind prejudice. It's possible that my pendulum swings at a different rate than some long-term TTAC commenters, but I'm swinging back to the side of restrictions, quality and constructiveness. When I started this job, I relied on the B&B to correct and cajole me to (hopefully) improved contributions. But lately I've noticed that I've been becoming less inspired and edified by the discussion here, and (as much as I loath the task of comment moderation) that's not a direction I want to continue in. Yes, it is ultimately my responsibility to maintain a community rooted in the values of respect, intellectual honesty and the pursuit of truth... but I beg everyone who appreciates TTAC's on-balance still-brilliant commentariat to join the task of keeping these pages a forum for vibrant, diverse, civil discourse. It takes, to mix overused cliches, a global village...
  
  Like
- Dr Lemming on Jul 04, 2011
  
  @Edward Niedermeyer It is a difficult balance to achieve, particularly if you don't want to come across as authoritarian. Farago could go too far in the latter direction. Might we start by agreeing to basic civility? A certain derogatory derivative of Japanese shouldn't be acceptable usage in a site like this. No need to endlessly reargue it. Those posts upthread should be gone and the commentator warned. My biggest personal frustration is the overly ideological and crass nature of the political discussions. There are plenty of other sites out there that engage in intellectual food fights. Must that happen here? It's pretty hard to have a rational conversation when some of the regulars insist on referring to Obama and the Democrats as Marxists. Try to explain that they are using their terms inaccurately and oh, boy.... To me the mark of a good blogospheric dialogue is that most of the commentators approach a topic with a spirit of inquiry, good cheer and an openness to learning something new. How do you get there? I don't see the moderator as someone who only deletes wayward posts, but as a facilitator of sorts who helps guide the discussion by stepping in at key moments to ask Socratic questions.
  
  Like
- Psarhjinian on Jul 04, 2011
  
  Part of the problem, and about my only real critique of TTAC (logo aside) is that editorials and content used to be separate, whereas now the line is blurred and a lot of editorializing happens. This means that a lot of stories beg commentary that used to be reserved for the likes of the Death Watch et al, but because they're often shorter pieces, the commentariat is left to fill in the discussion points that a full editorial would have done on it's own. The result is that all us opinionated jack_sses spout off all at once, instead of debating the argument. And yes, under Ed's direction moderation is a less heavy-handed. That's certainly another part of it. That's probably the greater part, but also much harder to do. I'd be in favour of a little more heavy-handedness, if nothing more than a private-message slap upside the head when we go too far. Which we will. Again.
  
  Like
Wmba on Jul 05, 2011

Gotta say, every time I see a new Focus, the paint job and general finish impresses me mightily. Plus, I now have seen two cases where people have parked their new Focuses obviously a long way from other cars in the parking lots at malls. To avoid door dings, I bet. Reminds me of the old days when we car nuts used to try to put our Volvos and BMWs far away from the madding crowd, only to watch in disbelief when some doink driving an old Dodge pickup would contrarily park next to one's treasured wheels and throw open the door. Krang!! Nice to see Detroit building such well-finished vehicles that inspire owner devotion. The Cruze is well-made too. The obvious increase in quality is there for all to see, and I think it's working. The game is on.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
Redapple2 Love the wheels
Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Off-road fluff on vehicles that should not be off road needs to die.