We’ve got a tight fight for the top spot again this month in the Mid/Large CUV segment. Traverse, Pilot, Edge, Outback and Sorento are all running between 9k and 10k monthly units, and between 50k and 65k YTD sales. All of these top-selling nameplates improved over their July 2009 numbers, but the flagging Highlander and Venza both fell back year-on-year, as did the Flex. Can Edge ride a mid-cycle refresh to the 2010 Mid/large CUV sales title? That could just depend on whether or not Chevrolet opens up more production capacity for its Traverse. Meanwhile, Ford’s Explorer and Jeep’s Grand Cherokee should start eating into this segment… which begs the question: should these two nameplates be migrated out of SUVs and into the burgeoning segment? While you ponder the answer, we’ll be preparing an July SUV sales chart for tomorrow.
37 Comments on “Chart Of The Day: Mid/Large Crossovers In July...”
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Once again, a really decent entry by Mazda gets trumped by all comers.
I am surprised the Edge is putting up such strong numbers. I really don’t see many of them around.
Now the Toyota Highlander, that I see all over, yet its numbers are lower than the Edge’s. You certainly can’t miss one, with HIGHLANDER embossed in foot high letters on the tail gate.
A buddy of mine picked up a CX-9 in the low 20’s! New!!! Bargain of the year. Not a lot of equipment on it, but it is by far the best driving SUV for it’s price.
Gotta wonder, though. How many of those Traverse sales are retail v. rental cars?
I’m pulling for Kia to win this one.
I test drove the CX-9 last year and nearly bought one. Neat car, and great fun to drive (for a crossover).
The Edge’ big advantage for sales is the number of Ford dealers. There are still spots in the US where an import brand dealer is over an hour away.
carguy622, visit a Hertz lot and you will see why the Edge is putting up big numbers.
And on that note, why are the Edge, Venza, and Murano listed with these large three row vehicles. Those three are more close in size to the CR-V.
I would not have been able to predict this chart. Ford Edge? What’s that? In Eugene, they’re almost unheard of. And how the mighty Highlander has fallen! And the Sorento giving a run for the top.
Yeah, Kia is having a hell of a year. Wait until their new midsize sedan comes out with the turbo.
Paul, I hear you re the Edge, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen one. Maybe Ford doesn’t ship em to Oregon?
Come to the Northeast, they’re all here, along with the Traverses, Equinoxes and Sorentos
How does the Pilot outsell the Highlander? The only thing I can think of is the Venza must be stealing some of the Highlander’s buyers.
On the east coast, very very few of Edge, Arcadia, and Traverse. Pilot, Highlander, Sorento, Santa Fe, Murano are everywhere.
But, I went to a wedding in Michigan, and it seemed as if every 3rd or 4th car was either an Edge or a Fusion. Also, I did not see a single Highlander or Pilot on my Detroit visit. This is a problem. The auto engineers and designers in Michigan do not understand the foreign cars. They never see them.
Funny, not many Fusion on the east coast either … but, a government lot near my job has rows of brand new Ford, GM, and Chrysler vehicles. Some appear to never move.
I think the Obama admisistration is keeping those Detroit plants running.
Several weeks ago, I purchased a new Highlander. Had a difficult time getting a good deal. The inventory is low.
I almost purchased an Edge. It had many thousands of rebates and discounts on the hood. It would have been 4K less than the Highlander. But, I rented one for the weekend, and it seemed crude compared to the Highlander. The gas mileage on the Ford was just not there. Plus, I did not want to own a vehicle that is rarely seen on the east coast. However, if the Ford dealer would have cut the price by another 1500, that would have been 5.5K less than the Highlander, and I would be a Ford owner now. In my opinion 5.5K would cover the extended warranty ( A must have on a Detroit car ), and the lower resale value. That would have done it for me.
It seems as if Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Kia, and Hyundai are owned by people on the coasts, while fleets and midwest people own Detroit products. That is how this appears to have turned out.
I have seen another poster claim that Fords are popular in California, but in Southern California, which I am a regular, new Fords are indeed rare. It is possible Ford may sell a number of products in California, but on a market share basis, it is very small. If Detroit is not able to do well in the trendy east and west coast markets, they are in big trouble.
I don’t know about this. I live in eastern MA in an upper middle class suburb and there are Fords everywhere (including my garage, along with a Honda). Fusions and Edges are commonplace. I agree that imports clearly dominate on the east coast, but domestic brands, particularly Ford, are making inroads.
I drive the Mass Pike, and what you say is just not true. In fact, Ford sales are so bad that many dealerships have been closed. The only Ford I see a decent number of is the Escape.
It doesn’t matter where the people live who buy the cars, as long as a lot of them buy them. Edges are very popular in the South and Florida as well. The Edge also has better fuel economy than the V6 Highlander, so I’m not sure why you would think it’s bad.
There are some nice incentves on the Edge right now as Ford tries to reduce inventory before the launch of the 2011 model in the next couple months. The 2011 adresses the biggest issues of the 2010 – lack of A rear view camera, a modern interior, and reduced road noise, especially in the back seat. The updated interior and new LCD gauge cluster should catch the attention of the more style-oriented buying public.
jj99,
Umm, no. It’s called a difference of opinion. Look it up in the dictionary. Unless you are counting cars from your front porch, you have an opinion, that’s all. Congratulations on that. And by the way, a car like the Edge is not “rare” on the east coast. A Ferrari 458 Italia is rare. While you have that dictionary handy, look up “hyperbole.”
As I said, in my neck of the woods in the Greater Boston area, some Fords are commonplace. Just one man’s experience. The Edge, Fusion, Focus and (of course) F-150. The Flex and Taurus, not so much. I’m not saying Ford has a superior product in every segment. They don’t. But I believe they are making inroads in a traditionally import-oriented geographical area.
PartsUnknown, I may see a couple Fusion and Edges a day on the roads here. I see Accords, Camrys, Highlanders, and Pilots all day long. Are you sure you live around Boston? A few F150, but many many more Tundra.
Dude, Boston has one of the highest percentage of foreign cars in America. This is a published fact.
Oh right, I live in Arizona, I forgot.
Hey – dude – you might want to get you arguments straight. I already acknowledged that foreign cars dominate on the east coast.
That does not mean that you can make the leap and say that domestic brands are owned by midwest people and Fords are rare on the east coast. That’s ridiculous on its face.
I have homes on the east and west coast. I live in these places. Detroit cars do exist, but not many of them on the coasts. That is what it is. Detroit has a big problem.
Your observations only count for the Boston area, in upstate NY I see plenty of all the cars you say you never see.
I don’t know if Central VA counts as “east coast” or “south”, but I see plenty of Fusions, Edges, and Focus models. Tons.
The market here is pretty damn diverse though. The only odd thing about Virginia (and MD/DC) is for some odd reason people drive Volkswagens here out of all proportion to the rest of the country. This is true even outside of the urban areas. It’s weird.
This post is frankly BS, or the poster is legally blind in one eye.
I live on CT’s gold coast and see plenty of domestics, Fords aren’t rare. Thats just an absurd opinion. This was the kicker comment
“Plus, I did not want to own a vehicle that is rarely seen on the east coast”
What???
I’d estimate that nothing on this chart has the capability of either the new JGC or Ford Explorer. Both are marketed as SUVS (not crossovers) and go out of their way to expouse their off-road prowess.
The most logical way to categorize tall wagons is by splitting them into two groups – body-on-frame and unibody; though the fact an SUV like the Lexus GX is body-on-frame doesn’t mean it’s used off-road any more than an Edge, if at all.
I’m still amazed the Traverse wasn’t a launch vehicle on the Lambda platform. Instead they gave one to Saturn. If Saturn and the Outlook were still around and the Traverse didn’t exist, you can bet it wouldn’t be selling this well.
I’m still amazed that Caddy doesn’t have a Lambda crossover of their own to sell.
I’m surprised the Dodge Journey has sold so poorly compared to its Detroit 3 counterparts, despite serving up almost the exact same CUV recipe.
Chevy and Ford’s success in this segment is somewhat offset by their total abdication of the minivan segment to Toyota, Honda, Chrysler, et al. Nissan is hungry to get back in the game with a new Quest, and Hyundai/Kia sure to return to serious minivan at some point, but there’s almost nothing stirring in either Dearborn or Detroit as far as a full-size minivan is concerned.
There are people out there who want a Chevy Sienna or Ford Odyssey who have nowhere to turn but the imports; and that’s market share that’s simply being conceded.
Yeah, the Freestar and Uplander were horrible, now suck it up and make something better, something class-leading.
@philadlj, “I’m surprised the Dodge Journey has sold so poorly compared to its Detroit 3 counterparts, despite serving up almost the exact same CUV recipe.”
It could be its stunningly low-rent interior. I rented it once and since then I have refused one very time (like I do with Sebring convertibles, which in turn demonstrate that Chrysler engineers didn’t realize that the top of the window should seal with the convertible top).
The Journey is lumped into the compact category, because really in comparison to the Lambda siblings, its very small.
Its styling also doesn’t hide that its pretty much a minivan.
The Edge has an “edge” (pun intended) over it in styling.
It will be interesting to see if the new Durango can somewhat make a dent in the Lambda domination that we see at the charts.
oh, btw, the Outlook was FAR better looking than the the Traverse that replaced it.
Shoulda just rebadged the Outlook to the chevy and called it a day.
With how well the Lambda CUVs are selling, it doesn’t seem that losing the Saturn version hurts GM at all.
“That could just depend on whether or not Chevrolet opens up more production capacity for its Traverse” – Does this mean Chevy is selling all that it can make?
That would be correct
“should these two nameplates be migrated out of SUVs and into the burgeoning segment?” Sorry, what segment again?
Better start checking the IPs of posts. My bet is many of the pro-Ford posts claiming to be from the northeast and other east coast locations are within driving distance from the Glass House in Dearborn.
TTAC, check my IP. It is from the northeast. jj is correct. New Ford Motor Company autos are far and few between in the northeast. When you see one, it is usually a rental car or a state-local-federal car. jj is wrong in one way. There are a lot of Jeeps here that are in private owners hands. I don’t see much other Michigan autos other than jeep.
Seems like the Ford strategy is to paint these message boards with misinformation. TTAC, check those IPs. Perhaps they are from Boston, Michigan. Perhaps they really are from the northeast and they saw all those new Fords on the 95 after hitting that crack pipe. That would explain their “common” sightings of new Michigan automobiles.
Maybe in the metro areas with more than a million people and plenty of 6 figure plus salaries the Fords are hard to make out. But in areas with less population and lower wages the Fords are a plenty.
The last time I was in the northeast, well, really the mid-atlantic region, a couple years ago I saw plenty of domestic vehicles in private owners hands. There were plenty of imports too, but I wouldn’t say there was an overwhelming majority of either.
One person can’t speak for an entire region, or even an entire city. Neighborhood by neighborhood the demographics will change and so will the vehicle ownership. I could take a drive through a certain neighborhood down here and conclude that South Florida is just crawling with AMG Mercedes models, Bentleys, and Lambos, or drive through another and think that all anybody drives down here are Grand Marquis and Buick Lucernes. My hometown up north was home to both a big Chrysler plant and the major state university, so if that was your experience for the region you’d think that Chrysler, VW, and Hyundai were the three best selling automakers out there.
In the end it doesn’t matter where the people live who buy the cars, the sales numbers speak for themselves. The opinion of Bostonians or New Yorkers on cars is no more important than the opinion of Alabamians, Michiganders, or Hawaiians. As of July GM is selling the most cars in the country, followed by Ford, followed by Toyota. You can argue fleet percentages, and then argue the mix of those fleet sales even further, but GM, Ford, and Toyota all posted profits this past quarter, so whatever they’re doing, it’s working.
“Sightings” is a horrible indicator of actual sales results. We see what we want to see and/or are looking for. Actual sales and registration data is available if you know how to hunt for it or are willing to buy it.
There is no need to accuse fellow posters of being corporate spys.
Look at that Flex set the charts on FIRE!!!
So much for 100K units a year…
These comments prove how useless anecdotal evidence is. Seriously how can you determine auto demographics just by making a mental note every now and then?