If you look at the strong January sales results in the U.S., the Top Ten selling vehicles moved around a bit, but there were no surprises. Trucks dominated the market with the Ford F-Series, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram pickups firmly in place in the top three spots.
The Toyota Corolla, moving from its eighth place finish in December into the fourth spot in January made it the top-selling car for the month.Corolla led the month’s top offshore nameplates with a 20.2% increase compared to last January. In fifth place, the best-selling Toyota Camry finished the month with sales increasing 14.7%.
No surprise that midsize sedans were among the month’s best-sellers. Behind the Camry, the extremely competent Nissan Altima captured sixth place. Altima was up 17% over last January. The Honda Accord – a strong entry as well – also posted an eighth place finish for the month, with sales up a scant 2%. Compact SUVs were strong in January, with the Honda CR-V taking seventh place and the Toyota RAV4 with a tenth place finish.
Offshore nameplate sales totaled 628,241 vehicles, down from 822,477 sold in December, but were up from the 562,141 vehicles they sold last January. Asian brands held 45.7% of the market; up from the 43.9% share held in December. Overall sales of 525,868 units were also down from the 661,026 vehicles they sold in December. However, sales demonstrated improvements compared to January 2013 when they Asians sold 466,162 vehicles.
European market share fell slightly as they only took 8.9% of the U.S. auto market, down from 10.7% in December. Total sales of 102,376 units also fell below the 161,451 units sold in December.
AutoData says that the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) for January 2015 reached 16.66 million units, its highest level in nine years. Last January the SAAR stood at 15.29 million. Total industry deliveries increased 13.7% compared to last January. Industry wide, 1,151,123 light vehicles were sold in January. Sales for all automakers were up 13.7% from January 2014.
