2002-2015: For 14 Years The Toyota Camry Has Reigned As America's Best-Selling Car

The streak began in 2002 and remains unbroken. Yes, 2002, which began with the Patriots winning the Super Bowl and ended after George W. Bush’s GOP was strengthened during the first mid-term elections of his presidency.

The Toyota Camry was America’s best-selling car. And the Camry has topped the best-selling cars leaderboard every year since.

In 2015, the Camry’s lead over the second-ranked car grew to 66,000 units from 40,000 in 2014. As U.S. passenger car volume declined in a record-setting year for the auto industry, the Toyota Camry’s sales did not. As midsize car sales slid 2 percent, U.S. Camry volume increased to the highest level seen of America’s most popular car in seven years.

Threats to the Camry’s supremacy in 2016? They stand shoulder to shoulder with the Camry inside Toyota’s own showrooms.

COROLLA

Low fuel prices don’t help compacts if prospective buyers are also considering a slight payment increase to buy or lease an intermediate car instead, but compact car popularity is potentially enhanced by a declining subcompact car category.

RAV4

Just look at Canada, where small SUV popularity has crushed the midsize sector. The Escape outsells the Fusion, Focus, Fiesta, Taurus, and C-Max combined, and the RAV4 has outsold the Camry in seven consecutive years. The year before the RAV4 took over from the Camry, Toyota’s midsize sedan volume was 20 percent stronger. Change happens fast.

CONSISTENCY

Only in six of the last 24 months has the Camry failed to top the passenger car sales leaderboard, and only twice during that period has the Camry failed to hold the title in consecutive months. The Camry doesn’t squeak ahead with a blow-out sale over the holidays every year. Instead, it’s a surprise when a month ends and some other car has generated more showroom activity than the Camry.

MARGIN OF VICTORY

Typically, however, the second-best-selling car in America is the Honda Accord, which ranked first in 2001 prior to the Camry’s streak began. In 2007, when Camry sales shot to a record-high 473,108 units, the margin of victory was at its largest: 80,877 sales. Never has the margin been smaller than in 2003, when the Accord trailed the Camry by only 15,546 units. 2015’s margin, 66,023 units between the Camry and Corolla, marks a three-year high.

MARKET SHARE

That’s the highest level since 2009, when the Camry accounted for 6.3 percent of the new cars sold in the United States.

HONDA CANADA

Moreover, the Civic’s dominance in the car sector is greater in Canada than the Camry’s dominance in America. 9.1 percent of Canada’s car sales in 2015 belonged to the Civic. Indeed, the Civic was even able to unseat the all-conquering Ford F-Series as recently as 2008 to become Canada’s best-selling vehicle overall. The F-Series outsold the Civic by a 1.8 to 1 count in Canada in 2015; the Camry by 1.8 to 1 in the U.S.

RETAIL SEDANS

Keep in mind, also, that Honda markets two bodystyles under the Accord nameplate. Honda doesn’t provide a breakdown of Accord sales by sedan and coupe, but current inventory suggests Honda may have sold approximately 43,000 Accord coupes in 2015 plus 313,000 Accord sedans. Even if Toyota is dependent on fleet – good or bad – for a quarter of all Camry sales and not a single Accord ever ended up in an airport rental lot, the Camry sedan would still have outsold the Accord sedan.

Does it matter? Not likely to two automakers which sell hundreds of thousands of profitable midsize cars every year in America. And the Camry’s numbers — no matter how impressive the totals, the duration of the streak, or its ability to fend off all manner of challengers — won’t change the fact that the Accord is still my favourite midsize car.

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.