The first quarter of 2013 sales results are in and it appears that the Auto Industry is looking healthy and is leading the economic recovery. On the other hand, 2013 has not been a good year for good old sedans. Trucks, crossovers, and sport utilities are all the rage these days. More on the truck in another post. Lets zoom-in on the most popular car segment in the United States, the mid-size sedan. Among the many declining sedans, there are two stand-outs and they are the 2013 Honda Accord and the 2013 Ford Fusion.
| March 2013 # | March 2013 / 2012 % | Q1 2013 # | Q1 2013 / 2012 % | |
| 2013 Chevrolet Malibu | 18,539 | -22.4% | 49,179 | -16% |
| 2013 Chrysler 200 | 16,593 | 11% | 36,885 | 17% |
| 2013 Dodge Avenger | 12,439 | 33% | 32,047 | 48% |
| 2013 Ford Fusion | 30,284 | 6% | 80,558 | 26% |
| 2013 Honda Accord | 36,504 | 41.4% | 88,427 | 46.6% |
| 2013 Hyundai Sonata | 18,031 | -22.5% | 47,285 | -14.3% |
| 2013 KIA Optima | 14,366 | -4.3% | 38,813 | 9.7% |
| 2013/2014 Mazda6 | 6,102 | -22.3% | 10,951 | -38.8% |
| 2013 Nissan Altima | 37,763 | -8% | 86,952 | -9.8% |
| 2013 Toyota Camry | 37,663 | -11.5% | 100,830 | -4.3% |
| 2013 VW Passat | 9,521 | -5% | 25,909 | 5.6% |
OK, so the Accord and Fusion are still not the sales leaders in March or this year. Nonetheless, these two took a big chunk out of the leaders. The new Accord is now in third place and within a thousand units of the leaders for March 2013. The Honda is now is second place for Q1 of 2013 with 88,427 units. Interestingly, Nissan Altima is the top selling sedan for the month of March – it’s exactly 100 units ahead of the Camry. Ford Fusion had its best ever sales month and surpassed 30,000 units sold in one month. It’s now comfortably in fourth place and has potential to break into the Japanese Top-3.
And wait, what’s this? Chrysler 200 and Dodge Avenger come out of nowhere and post big gains as well. These two are aging sedans which will soon be redesigned, and a significant portion of these sales are to fleets. Still Chrysler 200 outsold the KIA Optima in March. Who would have thought?
Also, don’t discount the fresh 2014 Mazda6. It’s went on sale in March and its production and sales are rapidly growing.
Please enjoy this TFLcar Mashup video involving the 2013 Ford Fusion and some of its competitors:
Andre Smirnov is a life-long automotive enthusiast, software engineer, writer, and reporter. He has been writing and reporting at TFLcar since 2011. When not working or spending time with the family – you can find him tinkering in the garage or scouring the internet and other media for various automotive, mechanical, and computer related information.
