Small Car Sales In America – December 2014 And 2014 Year End

America’s passenger car market grew by less than 2% in 2014, but compact car volume was up 3% and subcompact volume jumped 4%.

• U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings By Model – December & 2014 Year End
• U.S. Car Sales Rankings By Model – December & 2014 Year End

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From the best-selling compact, Toyota’s Corolla (up 12% to 339,498 units), to the top-selling Nissan Versa subcompact (up 19% to a record-high 139,781 units), to off-beat small cars like the Kia Soul (up 23% to a record-high 145,316), a wide variety of small cars posted meaningful improvements compared with 2013.

But there were also cars which struggled to match 2013’s pace. The Honda Civic slid 3% in 2014. Ford Focus volume fell 6%. The Mitsubishi Lancer, already wildly unpopular, fell 15%. The Ford Fiesta, Kia Rio, and two Toyota subcompacts posted losses, as well. Outside the mainstream, the Fiat 500, Hyundai Veloster, Mini Cooper, Scion tC, and Volkswagen Beetle combined for an 18% year-over-year decline.

2015 will be a year of great change, as many of these mainstream, high-volume cars face new challengers from subcompact utility vehicles like the Honda HR-V, Chevrolet Trax, Jeep Renegade, and Fiat 500X, a segment of crossover that’s already begun eating into conventional small car volume.

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 now sortable, so you can rank small cars of all kinds any which way you like. Suggestions on how GCBC should break down segments can be passed on through the Contact page.

Click Column Headers To Sort • December 2015 • January 2015 • November 2014 • December 2013

Compact	December 2014	December 2013	% Change	2014	2013	% Change
Acura ILX *	1730	1573	10.0%	17,854	20,430	-12.6%
Buick Verano	3017	2929	3.0%	43,743	45,527	-3.9%
Chevrolet Cruze	17,800	18,162	-2.0%	273,060	248,224	10.0%
Dodge Dart	6881	5449	26.3%	83,858	83,388	0.6%
Ford Focus	14,883	15,569	-4.4%	219,634	234,570	-6.4%
Honda Civic	25,337	29,000	-12.6%	325,981	336,180	-3.0%
Hyundai Elantra	18,860	21,692	-13.1%	222,023	247,912	-10.4%
Kia Forte	5306	4302	23.3%	69,336	66,146	4.8%
Mazda 3	9719	7669	26.7%	104,985	104,713	0.3%
Mitsubishi Lancer	1547	1362	13.6%	16,495	19,451	-15.2%
Nissan Sentra	15,393	10,799	42.5%	183,268	129,143	41.9%
Subaru Impreza	8624	6629	30.1%	83,488	76,825	8.7%
Suzuki SX4	—	—	—	—	2859	-100%
Toyota Corolla/Matrix	30,125	22,562	33.5%	339,498	302,180	12.4%
Volkswagen Golf	4405	1852	138%	33,675	30,931	8.9%
Volkswagen Jetta	15,578	15,393	1.2%	160,873	163,793	-1.8%
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	179,205	164,942	8.6%	2,177,771	2,112,272	3.1%

Subcompact	December 2014	December 2013	% Change	2014	2013	% Change
Chevrolet Aveo	—	—	—	—	2	-100%
Chevrolet Sonic	5456	4435	23.0%	93,518	85,646	9.2%
Ford Fiesta	3724	4476	-16.8%	63,192	71,073	-11.1%
Honda Fit	6450	4617	39.7%	59,340	53,513	10.9%
Hyundai Accent	8566	7100	20.6%	63,309	60,458	4.7%
Kia Rio	1924	2156	-10.8%	35,933	40,742	-11.8%
Mazda 2	159	1228	-87.1%	13,615	11,757	15.8%
Nissan Versa	9129	8864	3.0%	139,781	117,352	19.1%
Toyota Prius C	2839	2810	1.0%	40,570	41,979	-3.4%
Toyota Yaris	1605	601	167.1%	13,274	21,342	-37.8%
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	39,852	36,287	9.8%	522,532	503,864	3.7%

City Car	December 2014	December 2013	% Change	2014	2013	% Change
Chevrolet Spark	3007	1712	75.6%	39,159	34,130	14.7%
Mitsubishi Mirage	1135	1388	-18.2%	16,708	2935	469%
Scion iQ	87	201	-56.7%	2040	4046	-49.6%
Smart Fortwo	973	855	13.8%	10,453	9264	12.8%
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	5202	4156	25.2%	68,360	50,375	35.7%

Warm Hatches	December 2014	December 2013	% Change	2014	2013	% Change
Fiat 500 *	2302	2324	-0.9%	33,708	35,834	-5.9%
Hyundai Veloster *	1685	3047	-44.7%	27,598	30,711	-10.1%
Mini Cooper *	4545	3887	16.9%	31,385	41,915	-25.2%
Scion tC *	1128	1143	-1.3%	17,947	19,094	-6.0%
Volkswagen Beetle *	2270	2819	-19.5%	29,182	43,134	-32.3%
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	11,930	13,220	-9.8%	139,820	170,688	-18.1%

Tall Hatchbacks & Crossovers	December 2014	December 2013	% Change	2014	2013	% Change
Buick Encore *	3102	2761	12.4%	48,892	31,956	53.0%
Chevrolet HHR	—	—	—	—	3	-100%
Chevrolet Trax *	739	—	—	739	—	—
Dodge Caliber	—	—	—	—	45	-100%
Fiat 500L	1482	1421	4.3%	12,413	7402	67.7%
Kia Soul	9906	6345	56.1%	145,316	118,079	23.1%
Mini Countryman *	1941	2055	-5.5%	22,645	21,325	6.2%
Mini Paceman *	129	650	-80.2%	2082	3262	-36.2%
Mitsubishi Outlander Sport *	2755	2358	16.8%	31,054	24,951	24.5%
Nissan Cube	186	432	-56.9%	3785	5461	-30.7%
Nissan Juke *	2155	3076	-29.9%	38,184	38,157	0.1%
Scion xB	1480	1288	14.9%	16,583	17,849	-7.1%
Scion xD	288	662	-56.5%	7377	9005	-18.1%
Subaru XV Crosstrek *	5482	5525	-0.8%	70,956	53,741	32.0%
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	29,645	26,573	11.6%	400,026	331,236	20.8%

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.