Chart Of The Day: Cumulative Brand Sales By Quarter

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

The six top-selling brands in America have sold between 450,000 and 1.3 million vehicles so far this year, with Hyundai (410,047) just missing the party. 2010 is shaping up to be Ford’s year, as the Blue Oval started strong and hasn’t looked back. Chevrolet has taken advantage of Toyota’s image issues to widen a lead for second place, putting Detroit on track for a one-two finish as the year enters its final quarter. But will Toyota fight back? Will Hyundai edge out the Pentastar’s last big-volume brand by the end of the year? Will Nissan follow Honda upwards or slide towards the oncoming Hyundai juggernaut? Stay tuned as Chart Of The Day documents the battle to the finish.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Mercennarius Mercennarius on Oct 07, 2010

    Nissans been the fastest growing Japanese brand for some time, don't see Hyundai passing them up anytime soon. In fact I see Nissan passing up Honda within the next 2-3 years. In fact I think Hyundais bubble is going to bust soon anyway...

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    • Bd2 Bd2 on Oct 08, 2010

      @Mercennarius Nissan has been growing the past couple of years b/c they have been putting a lot of $$ on the hood of their vehicles in order to move them (same w/ Toyota to a lesser extent), as well as gorging on fleet sales. Hyundai, otoh, has cut back sharply on incentives, as well as fleet sales (for Sept., Hyundai's fleet sales % was 13% and will only continue to drop as the new Elantra, Accent and Santa Fe roll out). @NulloModo If the Genesis is a "failure" (3rd best selling RWD midsize luxury import sedan in 2009), then the new Infiniti M must be a disaster, considering that it is being outsold by the Genesis sedan which is in its 3rd year of sale. The Sonata has had 2 recalls; the 3rd gen Honda Odyssey, for example, had 5 recalls in its 1st year, including for loosely assembled steering columns. As for the Equus, early reviews have been pretty positive, but w/ some criticism of the amount of feedback and feel from the steering; reviews of the Equus w/ the recalibrated steering have indicated much better steering feel and feedback. Hyundai and Kia have already surpassed Nissan in sales in the US; they will probably pass Honda sometime in 2012.

  • BrunoSaccoBenz BrunoSaccoBenz on Oct 07, 2010

    I've long been sympathetic to Ford and I'm pleased to see their current resurgence. But on the ground here in Seattle, I'm not seeing much signs of success for them. I rarely see a new Ford passenger vehicle that isn't adorned with rental car barcode stickers. As for the much hyped Fiesta, I've only seen two and both were definitely rentals parked in hotel lots. I thought there was constrained supply on that car, but it's already being pushed to fleets? The only bright spot I've seen is the growing adoption of the Transit Connect, though that is probably replacing E-series vans. Apparently the sales numbers don't lie but Ford hasn't seemed to gain much ground here in the NW.

  • Musiccitymafia Musiccitymafia on Oct 08, 2010

    Ford's sitting on top of the pile!! I've got to digest this. Thinking back to the wild ass aspirations of Nasser and the tough times following that "mistake" as the ship was righted. Wow, the times they are a changin'.

  • Mr Carpenter Mr Carpenter on Oct 08, 2010

    I stand corrected; Nissan BRAND outsells Hyundai BRAND in the US. But Hyundai GROUP (including Kia) outsells Nissan GROUP (including Infiniti) in the US. Maybe Hyundai would be smarter to simply buy the remaining percentage of Kia, and rebadge all cars as Hyundai cars worldwide. If they do that, Toyota, Volkswagen and even GM execs are going to have a lot of sleepless nights....

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