American Top 40, May 2011, Trucks And Cars

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

This is the list of America’s best-selling cars and trucks of may and year-to-date.

RankBrandNameplateMay ’12May ’11YoYYTD ’12YTD ’11YoY1FORDF series 54,836 42,39929% 246,116 214,46115%2TOYOTACamry 39,571 18,830110% 181,796 126,09444%3CHEVROLETSilverado 34,555 28,40922% 160,942 150,2067%4HONDACivic 33,490 18,34183% 135,082 110,08623%5TOYOTACorolla/Matrix 31,847 16,98588% 125,079 117,8756%6HONDAAccord 29,737 17,01875% 126,254 111,39313%7CHEVROLETMalibu 29,579 25,60016% 110,035 99,04611%8FORDFusion 26,857 24,6669% 112,416 110,8781%9RAMRam 26,040 20,11729% 114,630 90,53627%10HONDACR-V 25,186 16,30754% 123,400 95,42329%11FORDFocus 24,769 22,30311% 110,237 76,63944%12FORDEscape 23,077 23,1400% 98,667 100,333-2%13NISSANAltima 22,690 25,525-11% 135,289 112,30821%14TOYOTAPrius 21,477 6,924210% 107,504 62,18073%15HYUNDAISonata 20,765 22,754-9% 96,481 96,3700%16CHEVROLETEquinox 20,238 17,58715% 90,097 77,88416%17CHEVROLETCruze 19,613 22,711-14% 94,901 98,076-3%18TOYOTARAV4 19,248 8,624123% 74,309 64,05016%19HYUNDAIElantra 18,877 20,006-6% 80,114 83,309-4%20CHEVROLETImpala 15,879 16,707-5%81,221 87,319-7%21FORDExplorer 15,538 13,31817% 63,269 55,40114%22VOLKSWAGENJetta 15,175 16,671-9% 69,599 74,647-7%23TOYOTASienna 14,606 8,61870% 48,257 45,6786%24JEEPWrangler 14,454 10,00844% 56,410 41,94635%25KIAOptima 13,364 7,43180% 59,765 29,518103%26JEEPGrand Cherokee 13,274 9,48440% 62,611 45,40138%27CHRYSLER200 13,250 7,09887% 58,231 25,252131%28GMCSierra 13,196 10,75323% 60,466 55,22110%29DODGEGrand Caravan 12,418 9,42732% 58,063 46,14826%30HONDAOdyssey 12,348 9,42831% 50,481 45,73410%31TOYOTATacoma 12,269 9,09135% 55,289 44,76424%32NISSANRogue 11,977 6,96272% 60,839 50,41821%33FORDEdge 11,749 9,48624% 55,177 50,29110%34TOYOTAHighlander 11,657 5,755103% 47,065 40,60516%35KIASorento 11,077 11,936-7% 46,698 51,765-10%36HONDAPilot 10,749 8,56026% 44,917 42,5836%37DODGEAvenger 10,682 5,54393% 43,458 24,86875%38LEXUSRX 10,647 5,84782% 35,376 34,6972%39FORDE-series van 10,550 8,38626% 42,098 39,3727%40FORDMustang 10,427 6,60758% 38,361 30,20627%
Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Jun 03, 2012

    To meet President Obama's ridiculous goal of having 1 million EVs on America's roads by 2015, all EV sales would have to add up and place around #15 on the list with 20k or so sales. Volt, Leaf, and i-MiEV sales totalled less than 3000 in May, and that's with $4 gas. But I still like the Leaf.

    • Mike978 Mike978 on Jun 03, 2012

      You forgot to include Prius plug-ins. Agreed it will not get anywhere near 1 million by 2015 but then again weren't we supposed to get to Mars by 2020? I take these statements/aspirations with a pinch of salt.

  • JMII JMII on Jun 04, 2012

    Who keeps buying those F-series trucks? Seriously... doesn't every landscaping company, plumber and dude who has a jetski already owe a truck? Every time I see the F-series at the top of these list I just can't believe how many Ford sells even with $4 a gallon gas. Jeep Wranlger sales are impressive, I always think of it as (an overpriced) niche vehicle yet it selling better then mini-vans and popular CUVs.

    • DenverMike DenverMike on Jun 04, 2012

      New trucks depreciate much faster than older trucks and that's a tax write off that landscapers and tradesmen love. If your truck is your office, you want the very best. When your entire operation is based on 4 wheels, you need a truck that's 100% reliable. To everyone else, trucks are today's muscle cars with a 6' bed, for the price of Camcordtimas. Around 20 MPG hwy is worth it not to drive an appliance.

  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Thankfully I don't have to deal with GDI issues in my Frontier. These cleaners should do well for me if I win.
  • Theflyersfan Serious answer time...Honda used to stand for excellence in auto engineering. Their first main claim to fame was the CVCC (we don't need a catalytic converter!) engine and it sent from there. Their suspensions, their VTEC engines, slick manual transmissions, even a stowing minivan seat, all theirs. But I think they've been coasting a bit lately. Yes, the Civic Type-R has a powerful small engine, but the Honda of old would have found a way to get more revs out of it and make it feel like an i-VTEC engine of old instead of any old turbo engine that can be found in a multitude of performance small cars. Their 1.5L turbo-4...well...have they ever figured out the oil dilution problems? Very un-Honda-like. Paint issues that still linger. Cheaper feeling interior trim. All things that fly in the face of what Honda once was. The only thing that they seem to have kept have been the sales staff that treat you with utter contempt for daring to walk into their inner sanctum and wanting a deal on something that isn't a bare-bones CR-V. So Honda, beat the rest of your Japanese and Korean rivals, and plug-in hybridize everything. If you want a relatively (in an engineering way) easy way to get ahead of the curve, raise the CAFE score, and have a major point to advertise, and be able to sell to those who can't plug in easily, sell them on something that will get, for example, 35% better mileage, plug in when you get a chance, and drives like a Honda. Bring back some of the engineering skills that Honda once stood for. And then start introducing a portfolio of EVs once people are more comfortable with the idea of plugging in. People seeing that they can easily use an EV for their daily errands with the gas engine never starting will eventually sell them on a future EV because that range anxiety will be lessened. The all EV leap is still a bridge too far, especially as recent sales numbers have shown. Baby steps. That's how you win people over.
  • Theflyersfan If this saves (or delays) an expensive carbon brushing off of the valves down the road, I'll take a case. I understand that can be a very expensive bit of scheduled maintenance.
  • Zipper69 A Mini should have 2 doors and 4 cylinders and tires the size of dinner plates.All else is puffery.
  • Theflyersfan Just in time for the weekend!!! Usual suspects A: All EVs are evil golf carts, spewing nothing but virtue signaling about saving the earth, all the while hacking the limbs off of small kids in Africa, money losing pits of despair that no buyer would ever need and anyone that buys one is a raging moron with no brains and the automakers who make them want to go bankrupt.(Source: all of the comments on every EV article here posted over the years)Usual suspects B: All EVs are powered by unicorns and lollypops with no pollution, drive like dreams, all drivers don't mind stopping for hours on end, eating trays of fast food at every rest stop waiting for charges, save the world by using no gas and batteries are friendly to everyone, bugs included. Everyone should torch their ICE cars now and buy a Tesla or Bolt post haste.(Source: all of the comments on every EV article here posted over the years)Or those in the middle: Maybe one of these days, when the charging infrastructure is better, or there are more options that don't cost as much, one will be considered as part of a rational decision based on driving needs, purchasing costs environmental impact, total cost of ownership, and ease of charging.(Source: many on this site who don't jump on TTAC the split second an EV article appears and lives to trash everyone who is a fan of EVs.)
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