(UPDATED) 2019 Year-End Sales Report: These Were The Year’s Biggest Winners And Losers!

2019’s sales figures have rolled in, and as we close out the decade and look forward to the first months of 2020, it’s time to reflect on some interesting sales trends. The 2010s is a decade where crossovers and SUVs reigned supreme. To that end, they ultimately played a role in the demise of what were iconic nameplates in traditional passenger cars.

We also saw some dramatic shuffling from some automakers in the decade, thanks to large-scale scandals and major rebranding strategies. Now, coming off a few years of record sales in the later half of the decade, let’s take one last look at the scoreboard for 2019 and see the winners and losers of the year — and who looks strong heading into the next decade.

This monthly sales report covers the best and worst-selling brands of the month by volume, as well as the changes over December 2018 and, since we’re at the end of 2019, the year-to-date sales by volume over 2018.

2019 Year-to-date sales by brand (all vehicles)

Rank	Brand	2019 Sales	2018 Sales	YoY %
1	Ford	2,310,494	2,393,731	-3.5%
2	Toyota	2,085,235	2,128,363	-1.8%
3	Chevrolet	1,958,925	2,036,023	-3.8%
4	Honda	1,450,785	1,445,894	+0.3%
5	Nissan	1,227,973	1,344,597	-8.7%
6	Jeep	923,291	973,227	-5%
7	Subaru	700,117	680,135	+2.9%
8	Hyundai	688,771	667,634	+3.2%
9	Kia	615,338	589,673	+4.4%
10	GMC	564,946	556,449	+1.5%
11	Dodge	422,886	459,324	-8%
12*	Tesla	367,500 (*global sales)	245,240	+33.3%
13	Mercedes-Benz	357,729	354,137	+1.0%
14	BMW	324,826	311,014	+4.4%
15	Lexus	298,114	298,310	-0.1%
16	Volkswagen	363,322	354,064	+2.6%
17	Mazda	278,552	300,325	-7.2%
18	Audi	224,111	223,323	+0.4%
19	Buick	206,929	206,863	0%
20	Acura	157,385	158,934	-1.0%
21	Cadillac	156,246	154,702	+1.0%
22	Chrysler	126,971	165,964	-23%
23	Mitsubishi	121,046	118,074	+2.5%
24	Infiniti	117,708	149,280	-21.1%
25	Lincoln	112,204	103,587	+8.3%
26	Volvo	108,234	98,263	+10.1%
27	Porsche	61,568	57,202	+7.6%
28	Mini	36,092	43,684	-17.4%
29	Genesis	21,233	10,311	+52.4%
30	Alfa Romeo	18,292	23,800	-23%
31	Fiat	9,200	15,521	-41%
—	Jaguar	TBA	TBA	TBA
—	Land Rover	TBA	TBA	TBA

In the year-long fight for sales dominance, there weren’t too many huge changes from previous years. Toyota is still number one (surprise, surprise) while FCA brands Fiat and Alfa Romeo languish at the bottom of the sales charts. However, what is noteworthy are the top three Japanese brands’ slide in sales. Toyota, Honda and Nissan all lost some ground over the entire year. Other brands like Mazda, Infiniti and Acura also slid from 2018.

Subaru, on the other hand, did manage to gain some steam thanks to strong sales of the Outback, Forester and Ascent. Korean brands Hyundai and Kia sales surged in 2019, and Hyundai carries a distinction of being a brand whose best-selling model, the Elantra, isn’t a crossover. That said, the Tucson and Santa Fe were the brand’s second and third best-selling models.

Of course, we’d be remiss not to mention Tesla. Thanks to the Model 3, the all-electric automaker is becoming a mainstay in the U.S. auto market, with sales up over a third from 2018. With launches of the Model Y crossover, Cybertruck and Roadster forthcoming, the company’s momentum will likely continue to build in 2020.

December 2019 sales by brand (all vehicles)

Rank	Brand	Oct 2019 Sales	Oct 2018 Sales	MoM %
1	Ford	189,502 (avg.)	193,795 (avg.)	-2.2%
2	Toyota	172,048	185,386	-7.2%
3	Chevrolet	166,468 (avg.)	177,328 (avg.)	-6.1%
4	Honda	120,433	138,341	-12.9%
5	Nissan	93,538	130,655	-28.4%
6	Jeep	73,845 (avg.)	75,677 (avg.)	-2%
7	Hyundai	64,720	65,107	-0.01%
8	Subaru	62,364	64,541	-3.4%
9	Kia	51,229	47,428	+8.4%
10	GMC	48,960 (avg.)	53,508 (avg.)	-8.5%
11	Tesla	37,333 (avg.)	30,233 (avg.)	+19.1%
12	BMW	35,746	34,357	+4.0%
13	Mercedes-Benz	35,279	36,132	-2.4%
14	Lexus	30,093	26,446	+13.8%
15	Dodge	30,213 (avg.)	33,199 (avg.)	-9%
16	Volkswagen	27,877	32,047	-13.0%
17	Mazda	26,491	25,870	+2.4%
18	Audi	25,850	22,765	+14.0%
19	Buick	16,358 (avg.)	17,086 (avg.)	-4.3%
20	Cadillac	13,517 (avg.)	17,086 (avg.)	-2.2%
21	Acura	14,482	14,053	+3.1%
22	Volvo	12,360	8,826	+40%
23	Infiniti	11,243	18,065	-37.8%
24	Lincoln	11,118 (avg.)	9,436 (avg.)	+17.8%
25	Chrysler	11,001 (avg.)	12,936 (avg.)	-23%
26	Mitsubishi	9,915	8,986	+10.3%
27	Porsche	4,733	4,086	+15.8%
28	Mini	2,310	2,797	-17.4%
29	Genesis	2,167	417	+419.7%
30	Alfa Romeo	1,648 (avg.)	1,880 (avg.)	-12%
31	Fiat	579 (avg.)	1,145 (avg.)	-49%
—	Jaguar	TBA	TBA	TBA
—	Land Rover	TBA	TBA	TBA

Dialing it back down to a monthly view, the picture doesn’t look all that different. However, since FCA, Ford, GM and Tesla are reporting their quarterly sales figures, it’s worth seeing how they stack up against the others over the past few months. Taking a monthly average over the three-month quarter into account, Toyota comes out as America’s second best-selling brand behind Ford. Thanks to the F-Series, Ford’s sales are much higher than its rivals here in the U.S. For brands like Chevrolet, GMC, Toyota and Nissan, total sales figures includes all vehicle sales. For third-place Chevrolet’s part, while the Equinox continues to sell well, it’s still well behind the Toyota RAV4 in overall figures. Overall sales for the brand were down 6.1 percent from 2018, however.

Again, Tesla sales continue to build on greater momentum for the Model 3. Audi also performed well in December, as did Genesis. However, Nissan and Infiniti both fell hard, losing 28.4 percent and 37.8 percent respectively from December 2018.

Best and worst-selling models of 2019

Brand	Best-selling model	Worst-selling model
Acura	RDX (62,876)	NSX (238)
Alfa Romeo	Stelvio (9,444)	4C (144)
Audi	Q5 (67,516)	R8 (574)
BMW	X3 (70,110)	i8 (1,102)
Buick	Encore (102,402)	Cascada (2,535)
Cadillac	XT5 (49,879)	CT5 (43 (New))
Chevrolet	Equinox* (346,048)	Volt* (4,910)
Chrysler	Pacifica (97,705)	300 (29,213)
Dodge	Grand Caravan (122,648)	Durango (65,947)
Fiat	500 (3,267)	500L (771)
Ford	Escape (241,388)	GT (229)
Genesis	G70 (11,901)	G90 (2,240)
GMC	Terrain* (101,470)	Acadia* (99,429)
Honda	CR-V (384,168)	Clarity (11,654)
Hyundai	Elantra (175,094)	Venue (1,077 (New))
Infiniti	QX60 (43,162)	Q70 (2,552)
Jaguar	TBA	TBA
Jeep	Grand Cherokee (242,969)	Renegade (97,062)
Kia	Soul (98,033)	K900 (390)
Land Rover	TBA	TBA
Lexus	RX (111,036)	LC (1,219)
Mazda	CX-5 (154,545)	CX-30 (899 (New))
Mercedes-Benz	GLC (73,650)	GLB (1,173 (New))
Mini	Countryman (13,969)	Clubman (3,565)
Mitsubishi	Outlander (37,965)	Outlander PHEV (2,810)
Nissan	Rogue (350,447)	GT-R (331)
Porsche	Macan (22,667)	Taycan (130 (New))
Subaru	Outback (181,178)	BRZ (2,334)
Tesla	Model 3 (300,684 approx.)	Model S/X (66,672)
Toyota	RAV4 (448,071)	Mirai (1,502)
Volkswagen	Tiguan (109,572)	Arteon (2,449)
Volvo	XC90 (35,760)	V60 (861)

*Chevrolet and GMC figures include truck sales as well as car sales (as do Toyota, Nissan and Honda). The best and worst-selling models reflect the best and worst-selling cars, rather than SUVs (like the Yukon) or trucks. Those figures will be posted on TFLtruck.com.