Small Car Sales In America – December 2016 & 2016 Year End

Considering the declining sales seen elsewhere in America’s passenger car market, not to mention the disappearance of some models, it’s not reasonable to say that Americans don’t want small cars.

Sure, Americans are now buying more SUVs/crossovers than cars. But the decrease felt across the car sector – sales fell 10% outside the compact segment – the 5% drop in sales in the compact sector wasn’t so bad. Besides, a fair chunk of the near-120,000 unit drop was caused by the disappearing Dodge Dart. Its death was announced early in the year; production was ended before the year ended. Dart volume dropped by nearly 45,000 units. 

U.S. Car Sales Rankings By Model – 2016 Year End
U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings By Model – 2016 Year End

Two other Detroit nameplates – the new Chevrolet Cruze and older Ford Focus – lost a combined 71,000 sales. Throw in the anticipated drop at Volkswagen following the TDI emissions scandal as a cause, as well.

But then try telling Honda, Nissan, and Toyota that Americans won’t buy small cars. The trio combined for 959,846 total Civic, Sentra, and Corolla sales, a 6% year-over-year uptick. 

Click Chart To Expand

Subcompact car sales, meanwhile, fell just 3% as Honda Fit supply improved and as the Korean duo pushed harder to deliver Accents and Rios; as Toyota found a measure of success with the Scion iA/Toyota Yaris iA.

Americans are still buying small cars. Millions of them. But it’s getting harder for lower-volume nameplates to make hay as consumers flock to crossovers; as remaining small car buyers inevitably veer toward the most popular nameplates.

You can click any model name in the tables below to find historical monthly and yearly U.S. auto sales data. You can also select a make and model at GCBC’s Sales Stats page. These tables are sortable, so you can rank small cars of all kinds any which way you like. Mobile users can now thumb across the tables for full-width access. Suggestions on how GCBC should break down segments can be passed on through the Contact page.

Click Column Headers To Sort • January 2017 • November 2016 • December 2015

Source: Automakers & ANDC
* vehicle also displayed in another GCBC segment breakdown
GCBC isn’t here to break down segments, an impossible task for any group, but to display sales data for the sake of comparison. The more ways sales data can be displayed, the better. This explains why you’ll see the Encore and XV Crosstrek are listed with small SUVs, too, and the Acura ILX shown with mainstream cars is also displayed with luxury cars… because readers have wanted it both ways. You can always find the sales results for EVERY vehicle and form your own competitive sets by using the All Vehicle Rankings posts.

RECOMMENDED READING
Small Car Sales In America – January 2017
Small Car Sales In America – November 2016
Small Car Sales In America – December 2015
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America In 2016
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings – December 2016
Midsize Car Sales In America – December & 2016 Year End