Chevrolet Best-Selling Brand for First Time in Over Five Years

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

In October 2016, after a 68-month gap, Chevrolet was once again the top-selling automobile brand in the United States.

Despite a modest sales slowdown, General Motors’ highest-volume brand increased its market share, outsold Ford Motor Company’s namesake Ford brand by 3,341 units, and produced the Bow-tie brand’s best October retail volume since 2004.

Ford, on the other hand, tumbled 13 percent, a loss of 26,000 sales compared with October 2015, due to sharp declines in its car and utility vehicle divisions.

It’s certainly not unusual to see perennial leader General Motors, Chevrolet’s parent company, outselling all other automobile manufacturers in the United States. Not since March 2011 has the Ford Motor Company outsold all of General Motors in the United States, and even then, only for a brief moment.

But Chevrolet has not in recent years been the major force it was even at the dawn of this century. Sharing space under the GM umbrella with Pontiac and Saturn and Oldsmobile, Chevrolet still managed to earn 16.2 percent of the overall new vehicle market in 2004.

Last year, with far fewer familial rivals, Chevrolet’s market share was four points lower.

In October 2016, however, Chevrolet increased its retail sales by 6 percent and reported a 7-percent overall increase in light truck volume. Although Chevrolet car volume plunged 14 percent to only 57,921 sales — less than one-third of the brand’s total output — total Chevrolet volume dipped just 1 percent in a market that fell 6 percent.

Moreover, October was an abbreviated sales month. With only 26 selling days on the calendar this year, October 2016 was short two days, or 7 percent, compared with October 2015. This means that on a daily selling rate basis, Chevrolet was up 7 percent.

Credit goes to the Cruze (which recorded its third consecutive monthly improvement), the Camaro (which outsold the Ford Mustang for a second consecutive month), and even the Sonic, Spark, and Volt (which collectively added more than 1,600 sales in a market that’s not favoring such cars).

On the light-truck side, the midsize Chevrolet Colorado pickup’s 50-percent leap more than counteracted the full-size Chevrolet Silverado pickup’s 4-percent drop. (Total GM pickup truck sales fell 2 percent.) The Suburban and Tahoe accounted for 10 percent of Chevrolet sales, up from 6 percent a year ago. Traverse and Trax sales were on the upswing, as well.

Meanwhile, at Ford, where the Blue Oval lost its best-selling auto brand crown after a 68-month stretch on top of the podium, the automaker blamed a sharp drop in fleet sales for much of the company’s October decline. Total Ford Motor Company fleet volume fell 24 percent after the company “front-loaded” fleet volume to daily rental companies earlier in the year, drove many new F-Series Super Duty pickups to the driveways of retail customers, and suffered a huge, 62-percent recall-inflicted Transit Connect wound. Ford lost 18,163 passenger car sales, 5,661 SUV/crossover sales, and 2,215 commercial van sales compared with October 2015.

Of course, F-Series sales increased, albeit by only 42 units, year-over-year.

With Ford operating cautiously, intent on decreasing inventories as the market slows, is Toyota’s turn to top the leaderboard upcoming? Not since March 2010, when Toyota outsold Ford by more than 4,000 sales, has the Toyota brand topped the U.S. sales charts. On an annual basis, Toyota hasn’t been the top-selling auto brand in America since 2009.

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.

Timothy Cain
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  • Xeranar Xeranar on Nov 02, 2016

    So you're saying 7 years after the GM death watch and bailout they're looking like a nominally healthy automaker? Is that surprising in any way, really? Shedding dead weight was depressing but a necessity since the Olds & Pontiac divisions had been so badly depleted to be nothing more than badges on the same car there was nothing to 'spin off' into a new company. I'm not a fan of Chevy, I don't think I'll ever buy a bowtie car except a Corvette but I respect they've managed to rebuild their line up intelligently. Though I have to say, they still feel like they're playing in a different world, atleast they're getting better at it.

    • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Nov 02, 2016

      Estimates vary, but the most recent number I could find was that $11 billion of the bailout money for GM was never recovered. Some people reckon that's a good value, in order to re-invigorate GM and keep its 200k+ direct employees (not to mention suppliers) working and paying taxes, rather than the alternative.

  • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Nov 02, 2016

    Where is BAFO saying , "I told you so?" Ford slayed by a 9/10th's pickup.

  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
  • CoastieLenn No idea why, but nothing about a 4Runner excites me post-2004. To me, they're peak "try-hard", even above the Wrangler and Gladiator.
  • AZFelix A well earned anniversary.Can they also attend to the Mach-E?
  • Jalop1991 The intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft may not be fully engaged due to suspected improper assembly by the supplier. Over time, partial engagement can cause damage to the intermediate shaft splines. Damaged shaft splines may result in unintended vehicle movement while in Park if the parking brake is not engagedGee, my Chrysler van automatically engages the parking brake when we put it in Park. Do you mean to tell me that the idjits at Kia, and the idjit buyers, couldn't figure out wanting this in THEIR MOST EXPENSIVE VEHICLE????
  • Dukeisduke I've been waiting to see if they were going to do something special for the 60th Anniversary. I was four years old when the Mustang was introduced. I can remember that one of our neighbors bought a '65 coupe (they were all titled as '65 models, even the '64-1/2 cars), and it's the first one I can remember seeing. In the '90s I knew an older gentleman that owned a '64-1/2 model coupe with the 260 V8.
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