Honda Beats Ford in 1990 Popularity Race : New-car sales: The Japanese car maker was the only one whose Orange County 1990 figures outpaced those of 1989. Its Accord was the top-selling model in the area.
Orange County car buyers’ love affair with Ford cooled a bit last year as Honda toppled the Michigan-based auto giant from its position as manufacturer of the most popular passenger cars in the county in 1990.
Honda, its lineup bolstered by several model redesigns, was the only one of the 15 best-selling brands in the county whose 1990 sales increased appreciably over 1989 registrations, according to a new study by R.L. Polk & Co.
The Honda Accord retained its ranking as the best-selling model in the county, and the Honda Civic moved up to third place from the No. 7 spot in 1989.
Car sales locally and nationally have been declining for several years. But the Polk study shows that Orange County remains one of the best car markets in the state. Sales in the county during the first 11 months of 1990 were down only 6.5% from the same period in 1989, whereas statewide, sales for the first 11 months fell 9%.
In the local sales race, Ford dropped to third place in the 1990 rankings, and Honda moved up from the No. 3 spot.
Ford had three models--Taurus, Escort and Thunderbird--among the 10 best-selling cars in the county in 1989, but only the Thunderbird made the list in 1990.
Toyota retained its No. 2 position on the roll of best-selling passenger car lines in the county, and Mitsubishi shoved Nissan out of fourth place. The local numbers for Mitsubishi are improved by the fleet sales at its headquarters in Los Alamitos.
Chevrolet barely kept its fifth place ranking, edging Nissan into an unaccustomed sixth-place ranking by a margin of 121 sales.
The data, compiled for The Times Orange County Edition, tallies new-car sales reported by auto dealers in Orange County from Jan. 1 through Nov. 30. Rankings for previous years are based on the number of automobiles registered in the county during the first 11 months.
The change in format came about because of a California privacy law that took effect last year which made it difficult for Polk to track registrations by county, a spokeswoman for the Detroit-based research firm said.
Although they are not taken from the same source, the 1990 sales figures and the 1989 registration figures are comparable enough bases to permit an accurate year-to-year comparison, said Bob Tuttle, president of the Tuttle-Click Automotive Group in Irvine.
Tuttle-Click owns a chain of 10 new-car dealerships in Orange County and Arizona, and it sells a total of 14 makes of domestic and imported cars.
Tuttle said the Polk numbers are an accurate reflection of the automobile retailing business in the county over the past few years. “Sales have been down, but not as much in Orange County as elsewhere,” he said.
No Chrysler Corp. model made the list of top-selling passenger cars in the county, although Dodge and Jeep finished fourth and fifth on the list of best-selling makes of trucks and vans.
Other General Motors makes among the top 15 car makers were Cadillac, in ninth place; Buick, in 11th place, and Oldsmobile, in 14th place.
Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz were the only European makes to make the cut, with VW new on the list for 1990, in 10th place, and Mercedes down one ranking to 12th place from 11th in 1989.
This was the second consecutive year that Cadillac outperformed Mercedes-Benz in the county.
“Cadillac is strong in Orange County because of the high incomes here and because all four dealers have been around a long time and are very service-oriented,” said Leonard Renick, general manager of 39-year-old Renick Cadillac in Fullerton.
Hyundai, the South Korean import, dropped to 15th place from ninth place in 1989.
HONDA TOPS O.C. CAR MARKET
Figures for 1990 are based on dealer sales, January through November. Figures for 1988 and 1989 are based on new car registrations during the same months.
PASSENGER CAR MAKERS
RankBrand (1989 Rank) 1990 1989 1988 1.Honda (3) 14,478 12,222 12,216 2.Toyota (2) 12,223 13,760 13,679 3.Ford (1) 10,428 15,671 13,048 4.Mitsubishi (N) 7,871 NA NA 5.Chevrolet (5) 7,757 7,679 8,109 6.Nissan (4) 7,636 9,136 8,603 7.Mazda (7) 3,558 4,367 5,167 8.Acura (8) 3,494 4,258 4,309 9.Cadillac (10) 3,097 3,620 3,228 10.Volkswagen (N) 2,938 NA NA 11.Buick (14) 2,932 2,916 2,840 12.Mercedes-Benz (11) 2,656 3,531 3,768 13.Lexus (N) 2,644 NA NA 14.Oldsmobile (12) 2,547 3,372 3,693 15.Hyundai (9) 2,408 3,837 5,636
Dropped from top 15 brands in 1990: Lincoln-Mercury (6); Pontiac (13); BMW (15).
TRUCKS/VANS MAKERS
Rank Brand (1989 Rank) 1990 1989 1988 1.Ford (1) 11,907 14,270 13,392 2.Toyota (4) 9,564 9,395 9,431 3.Chevrolet (2) 8,104 11,124 9,474 4.Dodge (N) 3,250 NA NA 5.Jeep (N) 3,041 NA NA 6.Nissan (6) 2,889 2,426 2,678
PASSENGER CAR MODELS
RankModel/Make (1989 Rank) 1990 1989 1988 1.Accord/Honda (1) 8,904 7,106 6,559 2.Camry/Toyota (3) 5,047 5,479 4,688 3.Civic/Honda (7) 4,736 3,257 4,306 4.Mirage/Mitsubishi (N) 4,202 NA NA 5.Corolla/Toyota (2) 3,032 5,538 5,954 6.Geo/Chevrolet (N) 2,704 NA NA 7.Sentra/Nissan (6) 2,695 3,697 4,516 8.T-Bird/Ford (10) 2,256 2,566 1,623 9.Integra/Acura (N) 2,116 NA NA 10.Galant/Mitsubishi (N) 2,102 NA NA
Dropped from top 10 models in 1990: Ford Taurus (5); Ford Escort (8); Hyundai Excel (9).
(N) New on list in 1990
NA Not available
Source: R.L. Polk & Co.
