The GCBC Analysis
Small car sales were down for the month of April. When you look at the entire segment it was down roughly 6,100 units. When you break it down into sub-segments, it’s easy to see what areas are doing well and what areas aren’t.
Compact cars and City cars suffered the most. Both were down for the month with Compacts taking the biggest dive. Subcompact cars, Warm Hatchback cars, and Tall Hatchback car sales were all up. With these kinds of drops, it’s clear that buyers fewer and fewer buyers are looking for compact sedans.
With that said, the leaders in the segment in terms of volume were the Honda Civic, which saw a very slight uptick in sales, and the Toyota Corolla, which saw a dramatic drop of 24 percent.
The April monthly sales numbers were reflected in the YTD sales numbers, too. This suggests we’ll continue to see similar performance from the segment in the future.
Best Selling Small Cars Rankings
All Small Car Sales
| Model | US | US LY | % Change | YTD | YTD LY | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mazda 3 | 4,351 | 4,725 | -7.9 | 19,566 | 24,380 | -19.7 |
| Fiat 500 | 273 | 335 | -18.5 | 1,051 | 1,644 | -36.1 |
| Fiat 500L | 72 | 168 | -57.1 | 240 | 563 | -57.4 |
| Hyundai Accent | 2,834 | 2,816 | 0.6 | 9,615 | 10,234 | -6.0 |
| Volkswagen Beetle | 1,566 | 1,469 | 6.6 | 6,021 | 5,347 | 12.6 |
| Honda Civic | 28,436 | 28,399 | 0.1 | 106,621 | 110,548 | -3.6 |
| Mini Cooper | 1,741 | 2,350 | -25.9 | 7,450 | 7,969 | -6.5 |
| Toyota Corolla | 19,679 | 25,896 | -24.0 | 98,287 | 103,716 | -5.2 |
| Honda CR-Z | 1 | 5 | -80.0 | 2 | 22 | -90.9 |
| Chevrolet Cruze | 5,254 | 12,612 | -58.3 | 28,565 | 52,467 | -45.6 |
| Dodge Dart | 2 | 26 | -92.3 | 10 | 278 | -96.4 |
| Hyundai Elantra | 16,586 | 14,044 | 18.1 | 52,698 | 61,108 | -13.8 |
| Ford Fiesta | 7,206 | 3,151 | 128.7 | 23,149 | 15,449 | 49.8 |
| Honda Fit | 3,247 | 3,987 | -18.6 | 9,635 | 15,008 | -35.8 |
| Ford Focus | 693 | 13,001 | -94.7 | 11,042 | 48,747 | -77.3 |
| Kia Forte | 7,336 | 9,199 | -20.3 | 28,710 | 32,930 | -12.8 |
| Smart ForTwo | 85 | 93 | -8.6 | 316 | 414 | -23.7 |
| Volkswagen Golf | 3,682 | 4,666 | -21.1 | 11,468 | 16,678 | -31.2 |
| Subaru Impreza | 4,819 | 5,833 | -17.4 | 18,598 | 22,287 | -16.6 |
| Volkswagen Jetta | 7,745 | 4,302 | 80.0 | 30,834 | 18,952 | 62.7 |
| Mitsubishi Mirage | 2,004 | 2,069 | -3.1 | 8,246 | 7,601 | 8.5 |
| Kia Rio | 2,082 | 1,964 | 6.0 | 7,926 | 6,989 | 13.4 |
| Nissan Sentra | 13,051 | 16,999 | -23.2 | 69,844 | 77,001 | -9.3 |
| Chevrolet Sonic | 1,308 | 1,527 | -14.3 | 5,767 | 7,510 | -23.2 |
| Kia Soul | 10,431 | 8,825 | 18.2 | 35,984 | 30,243 | 19.0 |
| Chevrolet Spark | 2,348 | 1,485 | 58.1 | 8,771 | 8,430 | 4.0 |
| Hyundai Veloster | 1,554 | 924 | 68.2 | 5,445 | 3,964 | 37.4 |
| Nissan Versa | 6,710 | 5,998 | 11.9 | 31,702 | 31,363 | 1.1 |
| Toyota Yaris | 3,885 | 3,194 | 21.6 | 11,779 | 11,154 | 5.6 |
| ∑ = 158,981 | ∑ = 180,062 | ∑ = 649,342 | ∑ = 732,996 |
Compact Car Sales
| Model | US | US LY | % Change | YTD | YTD LY | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mazda 3 | 4,351 | 4,725 | -7.9 | 19,566 | 24,380 | -19.7 |
| Honda Civic | 28,436 | 28,399 | 0.1 | 106,621 | 110,548 | -3.6 |
| Toyota Corolla | 19,679 | 25,896 | -24.0 | 98,287 | 103,716 | -5.2 |
| Honda CR-Z | 1 | 5 | -80.0 | 2 | 22 | -90.9 |
| Chevrolet Cruze | 5,254 | 12,612 | -58.3 | 28,565 | 52,467 | -45.6 |
| Dodge Dart | 2 | 26 | -92.3 | 10 | 278 | -96.4 |
| Hyundai Elantra | 16,586 | 14,044 | 18.1 | 52,698 | 61,108 | -13.8 |
| Ford Focus | 693 | 13,001 | -94.7 | 11,042 | 48,747 | -77.3 |
| Kia Forte | 7,336 | 9,199 | -20.3 | 28,710 | 32,930 | -12.8 |
| Volkswagen Golf | 3,682 | 4,666 | -21.1 | 11,468 | 16,678 | -31.2 |
| Subaru Impreza | 4,819 | 5,833 | -17.4 | 18,598 | 22,287 | -16.6 |
| Volkswagen Jetta | 7,745 | 4,302 | 80.0 | 30,834 | 18,952 | 62.7 |
| Nissan Sentra | 13,051 | 16,999 | -23.2 | 69,844 | 77,001 | -9.3 |
| ∑ = 111,635 | ∑ = 139,707 | ∑ = 476,245 | ∑ = 569,114 |
Subcompact Car Sales
| Model | US | US LY | % Change | YTD | YTD LY | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Accent | 2,834 | 2,816 | 0.6 | 9,615 | 10,234 | -6.0 |
| Ford Fiesta | 7,206 | 3,151 | 128.7 | 23,149 | 15,449 | 49.8 |
| Honda Fit | 3,247 | 3,987 | -18.6 | 9,635 | 15,008 | -35.8 |
| Kia Rio | 2,082 | 1,964 | 6.0 | 7,926 | 6,989 | 13.4 |
| Chevrolet Sonic | 1,308 | 1,527 | -14.3 | 5,767 | 7,510 | -23.2 |
| Nissan Versa | 6,710 | 5,998 | 11.9 | 31,702 | 31,363 | 1.1 |
| Toyota Yaris | 3,885 | 3,194 | 21.6 | 11,779 | 11,154 | 5.6 |
| ∑ = 27,272 | ∑ = 22,637 | ∑ = 99,573 | ∑ = 97,707 |
City Car Sales
| Model | US | US LY | % Change | YTD | YTD LY | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smart ForTwo | 85 | 93 | -8.6 | 316 | 414 | -23.7 |
| Mitsubishi Mirage | 2,004 | 2,069 | -3.1 | 8,246 | 7,601 | 8.5 |
| Chevrolet Spark | 2,348 | 1,485 | 58.1 | 8,771 | 8,430 | 4.0 |
| ∑ = 4,437 | ∑ = 3,647 | ∑ = 17,333 | ∑ = 16,445 |
Warm Hatchback Sales
| Model | US | US LY | % Change | YTD | YTD LY | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiat 500 | 273 | 335 | -18.5 | 1,051 | 1,644 | -36.1 |
| Volkswagen Beetle | 1,566 | 1,469 | 6.6 | 6,021 | 5,347 | 12.6 |
| Mini Cooper | 1,741 | 2,350 | -25.9 | 7,450 | 7,969 | -6.5 |
| Hyundai Veloster | 1,554 | 924 | 68.2 | 5,445 | 3,964 | 37.4 |
| ∑ = 5,134 | ∑ = 5,078 | ∑ = 19,967 | ∑ = 18,924 |
Tall Hatchback Sales
| Model | US | US LY | % Change | YTD | YTD LY | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiat 500L | 72 | 168 | -57.1 | 240 | 563 | -57.4 |
| Honda Fit | 3,247 | 3,987 | -18.6 | 9,635 | 15,008 | -35.8 |
| Kia Soul | 10,431 | 8,825 | 18.2 | 35,984 | 30,243 | 19.0 |
| ∑ = 13,750 | ∑ = 12,980 | ∑ = 45,859 | ∑ = 45,814 |
Important note: Ford, GM and FCA have switched to quarterly reporting, making it more difficult to accurately gauge sales. We won’t have results to report for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Ford, Lincoln, Jeep, Chrysler, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Dodge and Ram until the end of each quarter.