America's 10 Best-Selling Cars In January 2015


In January 2015, for the second consecutive month and the fourth time in the last six months, the Toyota Camry was not America’s best-selling passenger car.
But after holding the title in October and November – and the 2014 calendar year – the Camry ceded the crown to a sibling, not a rival, in January.
• Four top sellers post YOY improvements
• Hyundai held out of top 10
• Sixth-ranked Civic posts seventh consecutive decline
Sales of the Toyota Corolla jumped 20% to 27,357 units, 8658 more than the number of sales reported by the next-best-selling small car, Honda’s Civic.
Keep in mind, figures reported by automakers in the year-ago period were, for the most part, somewhat poor as a result of great weather interference. But the January 2015 figures recorded by the Corolla, for example, were strong not just in comparison to January 2014 but previous years, as well.
In the previous five Januarys, Toyota averaged 20,453 Corolla sales. 2015’s first month volume was 34% compared with that average.
RankCarJanuary2015January2014% Change#1 Toyota Corolla27,35725,07114.1%#2 Toyota Camry26,76323,33214.7%#3 Nissan Altima26,40822,51517.3%#4 Honda Accord21,01120,6042.0%#5 Ford Fusion19,69420,717-4.9%#6 Honda Civic18,69921,824-14.3%#7 Chevrolet Cruze18,69316,82811.1%#8 Ford Focus18,47812,00353.9%#9 Nissan Sentra14,3959,12757.7%#10 Chrysler 20014,15710,91229.7%Indeed, in a month that saw new car sales increase by approximately 8%, the three top-selling cars’ more meaningful increases translated to even greater market share. The Corolla, Camry, and Altima – America’s best-selling trio a year ago as well as last month – generated 14.4% of new car sales activity in January 2014; 15.1% in January 2015.
Among the ten top sellers shown here, eight posted year-over-year improvements. Seven of those eight reported significant increases, from the Nissan Sentra’s 58% (5268-unit) gain to the Altima’s 17% leap to the Ford Focus’s 54% (6475-unit) improvement. Granted, it would have been difficult for the Focus not to improve on January 2014’s disastrous result: it was the first time in 26 months that monthly U.S. Focus volume had fallen below 13,000 units.

In January of last year, three of the top 11 cars were Chevrolets. The Cruze maintained its seventh position, but the Malibu slid from tenth to 13th despite a narrow 0.5% improvement. The Impala, meanwhile, fell from 11th to 17th as sales plunged 23%. Ford Fusion sales are down 7% over the last three months. January was the seventh consecutive month in which U.S. sales of the Honda Civic decreased, year-over-year. The Chrysler 200 ended 2014 as America’s 21st-best-selling car. 2015 looks to be brighter.
Narrowly missing out on January’s top 10? The Hyundai Sonata (up 26% to 12,363 sales), Hyundai Elantra (down 20% to 12,240), and the aforementioned Malibu.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
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- Scott ?Wonder what Toyota will be using when they enter the market?
- Fred The bigger issue is what happens to the other systems as demand dwindles? Will thet convert or will they just just shut down?
- Roger hopkins Why do they all have to be 4 door??? Why not a "cab & a half" and a bit longer box. This is just another station wagon of the 21st century. Maybe they should put fake woodgrain on the side lol...
- Greg Add me to the list: 2017 Sorento EX AWD w/2.0 Turbo GDI 68K miles. Changed oil religiously with only synthetic. Checked oil level before a rare long road trip and Ievel was at least 2 quarts down. That was less than 6 months after the last oil change. I'm now adding a quart of oil every 1000 miles and checking every 500 miles because I read reports that the oil usage gets worse. Too bad, really like the 2023 Tuscon. But I have not seen Hyundai/Kia doing anything new in terms of engine development. Therefore, I have to suspect that I will ony become a victim of a fatally flawed engine development program if I were to a purchase another Kia/Hyundai.
- Craiger 1970s Battlestar Galactica Cylon face.
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I was very impressed with the new Corolla last year, and I'm looking forward to checking out the Camry at our auto show in 2 weeks. Toyota must be doing something to make me give them more than a casual glance... hmmm...
I am surprised the Hyundai Elantra did not make the list. Value and space wise, I feel it is still superior than the Corolla. I test drove the Elantra and Corolla back to back, and honestly, I could not justify the higher price tag of the Corolla.