Chart Of The Day: Honda Odyssey Puts An End To Toyota Sienna's Best Seller Streak
Not since January of last year had the Honda Odyssey finished a month as America’s top-selling minivan. Indeed, not since October of last year had the Toyota Sienna not been America’s best-selling minivan.
But in July 2015, Odyssey sales jumped 18 percent, year-over-year, enough to overtake the Sienna on a monthly basis.
America’s whole minivan category is in a state of flux in 2015 as a shutdown at FCA’s Windsor, Ontario, facility produced a dramatic slowdown in Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country sales, particularly of the fleet variety. The one true minivan of the bunch, Mazda’s 5, has been discontinued. The improvements recorded by the Kia Sedona are impressive relative to Kia’s historic Sedona levels, but it remains a small part of America’s minivan segment.
Sienna sales, meanwhile, are up 12 percent and are on track to rise to a nine-year high after five consecutive years of U.S. sales growth. Sienna market share in the people carrier category grew to 29 percent through the first seven months of 2015, up from 22 percent at this stage last year.
The Grand Caravan/Town & Country’s market share has tumbled from 49 percent through the first seven months of 2014 to just 31 percent so far this year. Honda’s market share in July, specifically, was 30 percent. Both the Sienna and Odyssey outsold the combined FCA efforts in May of this year.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.
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TTAC must be the only auto website where you can find minivan fans posting their thoughts without getting inundated with attacks :-) And that's why I check it regularly. Nothing new here, love the flexible practicality of a minivan. The only complaint is that the market for minivan tend to be a practical lot and yet, no diesel or hybrid yet. Fuel economy of low 20s to mid-high 20s in this time and age for an all around family hauler is just not acceptable. That and the modern Sienna and Odyssey have gotten so big, that's all the gripe I have.
Kia Sedona owner here, and very happy with it. The flexibility is wonderful, as I can: camp at the racetrack; haul 4x8 sheets of chipboard for the new house carpentry projects, haul five bicycles (three inside on a floor rack, two off the hatch with the strap on rack) - and that's without using the two bike extension to the rear rack or putting my three bike haulers on the roof rack; pack enough tentage for the two of us plus my sutlery plus muskets for a reenactment weekend; haul lots of people of the rare occasion I need to. In fact, the only thing my Ranger pickup could do better is haul a motorcycle. I now have to use a trailer. I still don't get the unpopularity. Then again, I'm not exactly worried about my public image.
You don't get the unpopularity of minivans, or of the Sedona? I'm a recent minivan buyer, and I passed on the Sedona because I don't trust Kia quality. I'd be willing to give a second look if the entry level price was low enough (as it is with Dodge), but Kia's asking serious money for the Sedona now. Yeah, it comes with tons of equipment, but reliability and sticker price is more important to me than frivolities...
Kia should make its little Rondo CUV slightly bigger. It has excellent styling and is based on a very reliable platform and powertrain. Canadians buy a lot of Hyundai vehicles too but oddly they don't offer any kind of van after they killed off the Entourage. The Santa FE XL is there though which is a very nice vehicle at a decent price. We are starting to see lot of older H/K vehicles here, which is good considering we can go from -30C in the winter to +35 C in the summer. Looks like quality/durability is comparable at least with the Americans makes if not quite at the Honda/Toyota level yet.