Best Selling Vehicle In Metro Detroit? Nope, Try Again

Here’s a question we are certain is causing sleepless nights for a wide swath of our readership: What is the most popular vehicle in Metro Detroit?

I know! It’s a topic that’s occupied my mind as well, especially while enduring long hours on the semi-pro karaoke circuit. Verticalscope would rather you click on the jump to find the answer, however, rather than give it to you here above the fold … but we will tell you this: it’s most certainly not the Ford F-Series pickup.

In fact, that truck line doesn’t even rank high enough for a podium finish.

According to the Detroit Free Press, which studied numbers through to the end of August, Ford’s cash cow only sold enough units in the Metro Detroit area – Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland counties – to warrant a fourth-place finish. Fiat Chrysler’s Ram was right behind it in fifth. Chevrolet Silverado? Sixth.

So what in the name of William C. Durant earned top honors? Why, the Chevrolet Equinox, of course!

*blinks*

I know; you coulda knocked me over with a feather, too. Yet, here we are. In terms of both retail sales alone and when measured as a retail/fleet mix, the Equinox lands on the pole. Behind it – in retail sales – are the Ford Escape and Jeep Compass.

This is a marked difference from five years ago, when the same retail data points placed the Ford Fusion, Ford Escape, and Chevy Malibu in the top three. In fact, half of the top ten was comprised of sedans, with the Cruze in eighth and the 200 in tenth. Now? There are no sedans on the list at all. None. Zero.

Alert readers will discern quite quickly that, of those five sedans, one is slated for cancellation and one has already departed for the great scrap heap in the sky.

Expanding the criteria to include fleet sales changes, the order slightly but not seismically. The Equinox remains on top, shifting 19,699 units, while the F-Series moves up to second place with 15,468 pickups sold. All those town councils and gubmint agencies need work trucks, I guess.

In fact, one could argue that a wide swath of those “retail” sales are fleet as well. According to data provided by Freep, over 120,000 people toil at one of the Detroit Three in some form or another. They certainly don’t pay full pop for a new car bearing the logo of their employer. Expanding that number to include family members widens the discount net even more.

We’ll have detailed sales reports for the whole country later this week once the calendar flips into November.

[Image: General Motors, Bryan Debus/ Flickr]