Toyota’s Corolla fended off the hard-charging Honda Civic to take the compact car sales crown for February, with a month that made it the second-best-selling car behind its midsize stablemate, the Camry.
More than 29,000 Corollas sold in February, which also outsold any compact crossover, for a five percent increase over February 2015. Yearly sales are still off from last year, with a six percent decrease.
The new and much-improved Civic, which charged out of the gate in January, still had a strong month, increasing more than 30 percent for the month and the year. Its sales of nearly 28,000 also surpassed any compact crossover and it beat out the Accord for the second straight month.
The third- and fourth-place cars, the Nissan Sentra and Ford Focus, also rode 30-plus-percent increases in February. Sentra sales are up for the year, but the Focus is down nearly three percent.
Further down the list, only the Kia Forte had sales gains for the month and year. The rest of the cars are down for the month and the year. The Chevrolet Cruze had the biggest monthly drop, and the Cruze and the Dodge Dart had the biggest yearly drop.
Compact Car Sales – February 2016
| Feb 2016 # | Jan 2016 # | Feb ’16/Jan ’16 % | Feb 2016/2015 | YTD 2016 # | YTD 2016/2015 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Corolla | 29,342 | 22,362 | 31.2% | 5.4% | 51,704 | -6.3% |
| Honda Civic | 27,707 | 26,741 | 3.6% | 31.7% | 54,448 | 37.0% |
| Nissan Sentra | 20,599 | 16,144 | 27.6% | 34.2% | 36,743 | 23.5% |
| Ford Focus | 18,620 | 12,977 | 43.5% | 32.8% | 31,579 | -2.8% |
| Chevrolet Cruze | 12,998 | 14,362 | -9.5% | -29.0% | 27,360 | -26.0% |
| Hyundai Elantra | 11,973 | 9,885 | 21.1% | -23.8% | 21,858 | -21.8% |
| VW Jetta | 9,375 | 8,177 | 14.7% | -13.3% | 17,552 | -11.3% |
| Kia Forte | 8,187 | 5,329 | 53.6% | 47.5% | 13,516 | 12.9% |
| Mazda 3 | 7,275 | 7,551 | -3.7% | -18.0% | 14,826 | -11.6% |
| Dodge Dart | 6,771 | 4,748 | 42.6% | -9.0% | 11,519 | -26.0% |
| Subaru Impreza | 4,432 | 4,382 | 1.1% | -8.2% | 8,814 | -11.2% |
| VW Golf | 3,645 | 3,993 | -8.7% | -7.0% | 7,638 | -5.9% |
| Buick Verano | 3,066 | 2,859 | 7.2% | -10.8% | 5,925 | -4.6% |
| Mitsubishi Lancer | 1,997 | 1,523 | 31.1% | -4.9% | 3,520 | -2.6% |
| Scion iM | 1,317 | 1,250 | 5.4% | NEW | 2,567 | NEW |
The Nissan Versa took the February subcompact car sales crown, narrowly beating out the Kia Soul.
The Versa’s sales were up three percent for the month, but a yearly decrease of nearly 10 percent kept it behind the Soul for the yearly sales race.
The Soul’s numbers were strong across the board, with double-digit increases for the month and the year.
Sales drop substantially after the Big Two. The third-place Hyundai Accent sold less than half of the Soul’s numbers, and from there it keeps dropping. The MINI Clubman’s inflated percentages come from the fact that they only sold two of them for the month and three total for the year last February.
Subcompact Car Sales – February 2016
| Feb 2016 # | Jan 2016 # | Feb ’16/Jan ’16 % | Feb 2016/2015 | YTD 2016 # | YTD 2016/2015 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nissan Versa | 12,249 | 8,006 | 53.0% | 2.9% | 20,255 | -9.8% |
| Kia Soul | 11,842 | 9,191 | 28.8% | 18.8% | 21,033 | 16.2% |
| Hyundai Accent | 4,897 | 5,050 | -3.0% | 0.6% | 9,947 | 6.9% |
| Chevrolet Sonic | 4,241 | 3,678 | 15.3% | 46.2% | 7,919 | 23.3% |
| Ford Fiesta | 3,754 | 2,560 | 46.6% | 1.2% | 6,314 | -11.8% |
| Honda Fit | 3,647 | 3,095 | 17.8% | -35.5% | 6,742 | -41.1% |
| Scion iA | 2,305 | 1,840 | 25.3% | NEW | 4,145 | NEW |
| Chevrolet Spark | 1,761 | 1,121 | 57.1% | -34.1% | 2,882 | -50.7% |
| Kia Rio | 1,461 | 1,430 | 2.2% | -24.8% | 2,891 | -17.8% |
| Mitsubishi Mirage | 1,156 | 963 | 20.0% | -37.9% | 2,119 | -40.6% |
| Fiat 500 | 1,081 | 1,207 | -10.4% | -54.0% | 2,288 | -52.0% |
| MINI Cooper 2-door | 948 | 1,216 | -22.0% | -27.6% | 2,164 | -22.8% |
| MINI Cooper 4-door | 920 | 1,232 | -25.3% | -17.1% | 2,152 | 20.6% |
| Toyota Yaris | 908 | 548 | 65.7% | -33.4% | 1,456 | -48.1% |
| MINI Clubman | 381 | 277 | 37.5% | 18950.0% | 658 | 21833.3% |
| Fiat 500L | 365 | 369 | -1.1% | -62.0% | 734 | -60.0% |
Check out this TFLcar video review of the 2016 Toyota Corolla:
