In a month where most cars in the segment saw sales drops, the Toyota Camry kept the midsize sedan sales lead over its main rivals, the Honda Accord and Nissan Altima.
Camry sales were down 11 percent over September 2015, but it still was the only car in the group, and one of only three overall, to crack the 30,000 sales mark. For the year, sales of Toyota’s ubiquitous sedan are down nearly nine percent.
The Accord didn’t fare much better as monthly sales are down more than 19 percent. It’s doing a little better for the year than the Camry, but sales are still down 2.3 percent.
Third and fourth place are the lone bright spots in the otherwise downward-trending segment. The third-place Nissan Altima and fourth-place Chevrolet Malibu both rode strong Septembers to be the only midsize cars that gained sales over 2015. Altima sales are up more than three percent and Malibu sales are up a class-leading 26 percent. For the year, the Malibu also leads the class with a nearly 16 percent increase.
While most competitors had sales drops, some fared worse than others. The soon-to-be-killed-off Chrysler 200 was again the biggest loser with a 68 percent drop, with the Kia Optima the worst among that cars that aren’t being killed off with a 23 percent drop.
Midsize Sedan Sales – October 2016
| Sept 2016 # | August 2016 # | Sept ’16/Aug ’16 % | Sept 2016/2015 | YTD 2016 # | YTD 2016/2015 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Camry | 30,707 | 32,864 | -6.6% | -11.0% | 297,453 | -8.8% |
| Honda Accord | 27,204 | 30,115 | -9.7% | -19.1% | 258,619 | -2.3% |
| Nissan Altima | 25,031 | 19,646 | 27.4% | 3.3% | 242,321 | -7.7% |
| Chevrolet Malibu | 21,521 | 16,723 | 28.7% | 26.1% | 170,389 | 15.8% |
| Ford Fusion | 20,570 | 19,052 | 8.0% | -17.5% | 210,462 | -9.1% |
| Hyundai Sonata | 15,347 | 14,888 | 3.1% | -4.8% | 155,279 | -1.5% |
| Kia Optima | 9,010 | 9,470 | -4.9% | -23.1% | 89,327 | -24.5% |
| VW Passat | 6,335 | 7,389 | -14.3% | -12.4% | 53,086 | -16.7% |
| Subaru Legacy | 6,027 | 5,800 | 3.9% | -3.9% | 47,396 | 7.2% |
| Mazda Mazda6 | 4,052 | 4,006 | 1.1% | -10.5% | 35,862 | -23.8% |
| Chrysler 200 | 3,185 | 4,210 | -24.3% | -68.0% | 48,959 | -65.0% |
| Buick Regal | 1,696 | 2,205 | -23.1% | -1.9% | 15,461 | 9.6% |
Check out this TFLcar video of the 2016 Hyundai Sonata hybrid:
