The Toyota Highlander may have sold the most vehicles in December, but the Ford Explorer was the top vehicle in terms of sales in 2016 in the midsize crossover segment.
Toyota sold 25,425 Highlanders in December, making it the number one vehicle in the midsize crossover segment for December. Toyota also sold 191,379 Highlanders for the year, and saw a 20.4 percent increase in sales when looking at figures from 2015 and 2016.
Ford sold 19,030 Explorers in December, which placed it in the fourth position in terms of sales for the month. However, the Explorer had the highest number of sales for the year with 216,294.
Although it was the highest in terms of sales for the overall year, the Ford saw a decrease in sales of 3.6 percent when looking at figures from 2015 and 2016, sales figures showed.
Rounding out the rest of the vehicles in the top five best selling for midsize crossovers in December was the Jeep Grand Cherokee with 23,250, the Subaru Outback with 20,695 and the Ford Edge with 12,691.
When looking at year to date sales from 2015 and 2016, the Volkswagen Touareg saw the largest decrease in sales with 40 percent less. Volkswagen sold 396 of the Touareg in December and 4,223 during 2016.
Other vehicles that saw double-digit decreases in sales from 2015 to 2016 were Buick Enclave with a decrease of 16.2 percent, the Honda Pilot with a decrease of 11.3 percent and the Mazda CX-9 with a decrease of 10.8 percent, sales figures showed.
On the flip side, there were several vehicles that saw double-digit increases from 2015 to 2016. The Nissan Murano saw a 38.2 percent increase, which was the highest in that segment. Nissan sold 7,881 of the Muranos in December and sold a total of 86,953 in 2016.
The others that had double-digit increases from 2015 to 2016 in addition to the Highlander and the Murano were the Subaru Outback with 20.1 percent and the Hyundai Santa Fe with 11.1 percent, sales figures showed.
For a complete list of how the midsize crossovers did for December and in 2016, see the chart below.
Midsize Crossover Sales – December 2016
| Dec 2016 # | Nov 2016 # | Dec ’16/Nov ’16 % | Dec 2016/2015 | YTD 2016 # | YTD 2016/2015 % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Highlander | 25,425 | 21,241 | 19.7% | 57.9% | 191,379 | 20.4% |
| Jeep Grand Cherokee | 23,250 | 17,230 | 34.9% | 13.0% | 212,273 | 8.0% |
| Subaru Outback | 20,695 | 17,769 | 16.5% | 28.8% | 182,898 | 20.1% |
| Ford Explorer | 19,030 | 17,245 | 10.4% | 0.7% | 216,294 | -3.6% |
| Ford Edge | 12,691 | 10,757 | 18.0% | 23.7% | 134,588 | 8.4% |
| GMC Acadia | 12,189 | 9,168 | 33.0% | 67.8% | 88,466 | -8.2% |
| Honda Pilot | 12,072 | 9,024 | 33.8% | -9.5% | 120,772 | -11.3% |
| Kia Sorento | 11,782 | 9,698 | 21.5% | -8.5% | 114,733 | -1.5% |
| Hyundai Santa Fe | 10,862 | 10,786 | 0.7% | 14.1% | 131,257 | 11.1% |
| Chevrolet Traverse | 10,381 | 9,194 | 12.9% | 13.5% | 116,701 | -2.7% |
| Nissan Pathfinder | 9,368 | 6,801 | 37.7% | 12.0% | 81,701 | -0.4% |
| Nissan Murano | 7,881 | 7,589 | 3.8% | 11.3% | 86,953 | 38.2% |
| Dodge Durango | 5,796 | 4,934 | 17.5% | -26.0% | 68,474 | 6.0% |
| Buick Envision | 3,931 | 1,785 | 120.2% | NEW | 14,193 | NEW |
| Buick Enclave | 3,800 | 3,508 | 8.3% | -36.0% | 52,028 | -16.2% |
| Mazda CX-9 | 2,594 | 1,994 | 30.1% | 123.8% | 16,051 | -10.8% |
| VW Touareg | 396 | 348 | 13.8% | -18.5% | 4,223 | -40.0% |
Check out this off-road video of the Honda Pilot and the Toyota Highlander:
