Chart Of The Day: U.S. SUV/Crossover Market Share Surges In July 2015

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

U.S. sales of SUVs and crossovers jumped 14 percent in July 2015, a year-over-year improvement equal to more than 67,000 extra sales compared with July 2014.

As a result, just under 36 percent of the U.S. auto industry’s volume was produced by utility vehicles in July 2015, a three-percentage-point increase over the same period one year ago.

Passenger car volume, meanwhile, slid 3 percent last month, a drop of around 18,000 sales as the overall market grew by more than 5 percent, or 75,000 units.

Strengthened by new nameplates which only barely fit the already loose definition of an SUV/crossover/CUV – vehicles like the Honda HR-V and Fiat 500X – the utility vehicle sector’s share of the market has increased, on a month-to-month basis, in six of the last twelve months. While this suggests that the upward trend is gradual, recent gains are clearly more rapid.

As recently as March, for example, “only” 33 percent of the new vehicles sold in the United States were SUVs and crossovers, on par with figures from last summer and below the level of last November, January, and February.

July’s quick rise to 36 percent didn’t occur simply as a result of new nameplates, of course. 16 of the 20 most popular utility vehicles in America in July posted year-over-year improvements, including ab0ve-average increases from the Nissan Rogue, Ford Explorer, Jeep Wrangler, Chevrolet Traverse, Hyundai Santa Fe, GMC Acadia, Ford Edge, and Jeep Patriot.

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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  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Aug 19, 2015

    Cheap gas. Which also largely accounts for the recent surge in traffic deaths.

  • PrincipalDan PrincipalDan on Aug 19, 2015

    The Acadia and Traverse must be selling on price because they are some of the "old men" of the segment, despite having had face lifts. The Patriot although old is popular for being one of the cheapest ways to get into a Jeep.

    • Bts Bts on Aug 19, 2015

      Having looked at the choices available, the Traverse, Acadia, and Enclave are still quite competitive. Their engines were ahead of their time with direct injection when they were introduced, and their styling is some of the best in the segment.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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