In what has been a banner year for sales, the all-new Honda Civic again took the monthly compact car sales crown, leading all others in August and extending its overall lead over the Toyota Corolla.
Civic sales were up 2.4 percent over August of 2015, and it led the Corolla by 2,100 sales. For the year, the Civic is up more than 15 percent and is the second-best-selling passenger car behind the perennial leader, the Toyota Camry.
The new Civic has been widely lauded for its updated dynamics, styling and interior space.
The Corolla’s sales were down about three percent across the board, but still sold well enough to keep compact car sales a two-horse race.
The big mover in August was the Chevrolet Cruze, another all-new compact car that is leaps ahead of its predecessor. The Cruze jumped three spots to take the final podium spot for the month. Yearly sales are down 25 percent – the second worst decline behind the woeful Dodge Dart – but a lot of that can be attributed to the switch to the all-new vehicle. Next year’s sales should be much stronger.
The Cruze forced the Hyundai Elantra, Nissan Sentra and Ford Focus down two spots each. All three had declines over 2015 – the Focus being the worst with a nearly 28 percent drop – and only the Sentra is in the black for the year over this time last year.
The last car to make it into the 10,000-plus sales club was the Volkswagen Jetta, which saw an increase for the month of 5.5 percent. Perhaps the company’s diesel woes are finally far enough behind them that they will start selling more cars, and the Jetta was always the company’s strongest performer in the U.S.
Only two other cars on the list showed positive gains for the month, the Kia Forte, which continues to sell strongly over last year, and the Buick Verano. The Dart continues to lose market share as Fiat-Chrylser winds down production of its only compact car, which is a shame as it’s not a bad vehicle.
Compact Car Sales – August 2016
| Aug 2016 # | July 2016 # | Aug ’16/July ’16 % | Aug 2016/2015 | YTD 2016 # | YTD 2016/2015 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honda Civic | 32,807 | 32,952 | -0.4% | 2.4% | 255,599 | 15.4% |
| Toyota Corolla | 30,741 | 31,717 | -3.1% | -3.1% | 244,651 | -3.0% |
| Chevrolet Cruze | 22,342 | 13,723 | 62.8% | 52.4% | 122,796 | -25.1% |
| Hyundai Elantra | 20,733 | 20,629 | 0.5% | -7.5% | 137,688 | -20.5% |
| Nissan Sentra | 14,256 | 18,536 | -23.1% | -9.0% | 155,806 | 11.2% |
| Ford Focus | 11,772 | 13,973 | -15.8% | -27.9% | 128,889 | -14.3% |
| VW Jetta | 11,720 | 11,450 | 2.4% | 5.5% | 81,449 | -9.2% |
| Kia Forte | 8,307 | 10,303 | -19.4% | 21.1% | 71,352 | 23.2% |
| Mazda Mazda3 | 7,297 | 8,103 | -9.9% | -28.2% | 66,781 | -10.4% |
| Subaru Impreza | 5,319 | 5,200 | 2.3% | -24.8% | 40,284 | 10.3% |
| VW Golf | 4,840 | 5,351 | -9.5% | -31.6% | 36,513 | -18.0% |
| Buick Verano | 4,652 | 2,068 | 125.0% | 75.7% | 21,439 | -5.2% |
| Subaru WRX | 3,194 | 3,288 | -2.9% | -5.1% | 22,488 | 1.7% |
| Dodge Dart | 2,898 | 3,341 | -13.3% | -54.0% | 34,540 | -43.0% |
| Scion iM | 1,397 | 1,601 | -12.7% | NEW | 12,079 | NEW |
| Mitsubishi Lancer | 1,089 | 1,093 | -0.4% | -12.2% | 10,616 | -19.3% |
Check out this related TFLcar video of the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze:
