US sales 2016 Q1-Q3 Compact segment

Krzysztof Wozniak
US Compact car segment
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US-sales-compact_car-segment-2016-Chevrolet_Cruze-Honda_Civic-Nissan_Sentra-Hyundai_Elantra-Mazda3

Sales in the compact segment slightly improve to a loss of 3% in the third quarter of 2016, as the year-to-date loss stays at -6%. The top-3 of the segment remains fairly stable, but most of the “challengers” is having a hard time keeping up, as consumers still favor crossovers over the traditional sedans. Still, after only 4 out of the segment 17 models improved year-over-year in the first half, that figure improved to 7 models in Q3.

Highlights for January – September 2016:

  • Toyota_Corolla-US-car-sales-statisticsThe new Honda Civic holds on to the segment lead, although Toyota Corolla didn’t give up much territory, as both models were within 350 sales of each other in Q3. The #3 Nissan Sentra lost 4% in Q3 as it was outsold by the Hyundai Elantra and the Chevrolet Cruze. Year-to-date, the Sentra is still up 10% and holds on to its podium spot.
  • Despite both being still pretty fresh, sales of the Cruze and Elantra are struggling to take off, with Q3 sales down 7% for the former and up just 2% for the latter. That leaves both models down with double digits for the first nine months.
  • Three aging compact models show different fortunes as they near the ends of their lifecycles: the Ford Focus plunges at -21% for the quarter and -15% year-to-date as it fell to #6 of the segment in Q3. The Subaru Impreza is down 8% in Q3 but still up 3% year-to-date, but the Kia Forte has suddenly seen the light at +34% in Q3and +26% for the first 9 months, lifting it to the segment top-8 ahead of the Impreza and the Mazda3.
  • Volkswagen keeps struggling without being able to sell diesel models and suffering from the ongoing negative publicity as it fails to find a solution to is emission cheating. However, the Jetta appears to have hit rock bottom, with sales up 3% in the third quarter, but the Golf still loses 22% and the Beetle drops 27%.
  • Production of the Dodge Dart ended in Q3 and it shows with a 54% drop in sales, now down 45% year-to-date. It was outsold by the also soon-to-be-killed Buick Verano in Q3, up 44% thanks to sell-out pricing.
  • The Scion iM was renamed Toyota Corolla iM as the brand was discontinued in Q3.

Note: clicking on the model name opens the sales data page for that model; clicking year in the legend turns the display for that year on/off