America's 10 Best-Selling SUVs & Crossovers In November 2014
If ever there was a month to highlight the popularity of America’s best-selling SUVs and crossovers, November 2014 is it. The Honda CR-V, the top-ranked utility vehicle in each of the last three months, didn’t just outsell all SUV and crossover nameplates, it outsold all passenger car nameplates, as well.
CR-V sales improved by 8869 units as the four cars which sold more often one year ago – Camry, Accord, Civic, Altima – all registered fewer sales this November than last, combining for 8359 fewer total sales. During a month in which passenger car sales held steady, utility vehicle sales jumped 9.5%.
The CR-V was by no means the only popular utility vehicle to post major gains in November 2014. All of the ten top sellers shown here (indeed, all 14 top-selling SUVs and crossovers) reported increased volume, year-over-year. The second-ranked Ford Escape was up 22%. Jeep’s Cherokee, still new at this time a year ago, was up 67% in November 2014. Nissan Rogue volume jumped 44%.
For this KL Cherokee, November’s fifth-place result was its best finish since arriving in North America more than a year ago. This was also the third consecutive month in which the Cherokee was Jeep’s best-selling model. For the ninth consecutive month, there were three Jeeps in the top ten.
After sitting in the tenth spot in each of the previous six months, the Subaru Forester’s move up to ninth came as year-over-year volume increased 3.5%. The Forester is Subaru’s best-selling model through the first 11 months of 2014, but not in November. For those who see the Outback as an SUV of some kind and not a wagon, its 14,128 November sales would have placed it ninth, knocking the Forester down to the tenth spot. Perhaps the Outback is simply the true crossover, capable of competing in one category or another, not unlike Kemba Walker’s ability to cross over to the right, then the left, then the right, before pulling up and nailing the three.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
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When I come up to a red light with 3 cars in one lane and a single Honda CRV in the other I'll go behind the other 3 vehicles because more often then not they'll all go faster than the CRV driver.
The CUV is now the default car shape, and will just continue taking over more and more of the market. Sedans are vaguely old-fashioned and will just become more so. Hatchbacks will converge into CUVs. SUVs with real off-road capability (and the compromises it requires) will again be specialty vehicles. The market has spoken and it would rather sit up high than have good driving dynamics.