Ford F series truck, Toyota Camry sedan dominate 2012 auto sales
The Ford F series pickup truck and Toyota’s Camry family sedan dominated U.S. auto sales during the first half of this year.
Ford sold 310,141 F series trucks, a 14% gain from the same period a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp.
The truck is well on its way to becoming the bestselling vehicle in America again this year. It has held the top spot for about three decades and leads the Camry, its closest competitor, by almost 90,000 vehicles.
The Camry, also a perennial sales leader in the passenger car segment of the market, logged 213,903 sales so far this year, a 45% gain. A complete redesign of the vehicle for the current model year has helped sales, as well as the easing of an inventory crunch that resulted from a part shortage after the earthquake in Japan last year. Most Camrys sold in the U.S. are built at a factory in Kentucky, but the earthquake upended production in Japan of a few components needed to produce the car.
The Camry will face more competition in the second half of this year.
Honda plans to release a new version of the Accord, Ford is bringing out a redesigned Fusion, Nissan has just come out with a new generation Altima, and Chevrolet is launching a new Malibu. These nameplates are already strong sellers in the family sedan market and the launches are expected to be accompanied by big marketing campaigns that should generate sales.
The Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck was the third bestselling vehicle, garnering sales of 194,508, a 6.4% gain.
Honda’s Civic was No. 4 (and No. 2 among passenger cars) with sales of 162,582, a 27.4% gain. Honda is selling a redesigned Civic for this model year, and also was hurt by quake-related inventory and production problems last year.
Honda had more vehicles in the top 10 for sales this year than any other automaker. In addition to the Civic, the Accord ranked 6th with sales of 155,178, a 22.1% gain and the newly redesign CR-V sport-utility vehicle was No. 8 with sales of 146,682, a 32.2% gain.
Other vehicles to rank in the top 10 included the Nissan Altima, which with sales of 157,101 is No. 5, the Toyota Corolla which with sales of 151,726 is No. 7, the Chevrolet Malibu, which with sales of 141,437 is No. 9 and lastly the Dodge Ram pickup truck with sales of 138,351.
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