Cain’s Segments: Crossover Sales

In every month since April, the four best-selling utility vehicles in America have fallen under the "small" banner. In July, the five top sellers were small. With one-third of 2013 remaining, the Honda CR-V, Ford Escape, Chevrolet Equinox, and Toyota RAV4 are both America's top-selling small crossovers and America's four leading crossovers overall. Together with their rivals, they accounted for 14.4% of industry sales in August and 13.4% of the new vehicles sold in the United States in the first two-thirds of 2013. The vehicles listed in the accompanying table represent more than four out of every ten SUVs or crossovers sold in the United States. Allow the popularity net to spread further afield and the Honda CR-V isn't America's favourite crossover. Combining the Chevrolet Equinox and its twin, the GMC Terrain, results in a General Motors total that's 31,885 units better than what Honda has managed with the CR-V so far this year. It takes two to tango, and two to top the CR-V and Escape. 2012 marked the first year in which Chevrolet sold more than 200,000 copies of the Equinox. The Equinox's total should top 240,000 units by the end of the year. GM benefits from also selling the fleet-only Captiva Sport, which sells more often than the obviously retail-oriented Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Mitsubishi Outlander, and the Volkswagen Tiguan. Honda appears set to top 300,000 U.S. sales with the CR-V this year. Ford's current pace could see the Escape top the 300K barrier, as well. After setting a Rogue record in 2012, Nissan's continued clear-out of the outgoing Rogue has resulted in a 15,659-unit increase through eight months. The Rogue nameplate should easily top 150,000 units in 2013. Subaru last sold more than 85,000 Foresters in 2010 but is on pace to climb above the 100K mark by New Year's Eve. In all cases, supply will be an issue. In seven attempts, Mazda has yet to report a year-over-year CX-5 result in the negative. In fact, all of the CX-5's monthly gains have been above 50%. Dodge will set a Journey sales record this year thanks in no small part to a pricing strategy imported from Canada by Reid Bigland. (The Journey is typically one of the four top-selling crossovers in Chrysler-friendly Canada. http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2013/09/canada-suv-crossover-sales-rankings-by-model-august-2013-ytd.html) Kia's overall inability to keep up with the market's rate of growth is partly the fault of its two SUVs. Sportage volume is down 23% (6248 units) after falling 31% in 2012. Sorento sales slid 9% in 2012 and the arrival of the a revamped 2014 hasn't generated an improvement as Hyundai steals some capacity for the Santa Fe. In ten of the last eleven months, Hyundai's own Tucson has reported year-over-year declines. The Volkswagen Tiguan, meanwhile, is selling only slightly more often this year than it did last year, in a market which is up 9.5%; in an SUV/crossover market that's up more than 13%. —- Auto August 2013 August 2012 August % Change 8 mos. 2013 8 mos. 2012 YTD % Change Chevrolet Captiva Sport 5735 2464 + 133% 33,045 24,299 + 36.0% Chevrolet Equinox 25,073 20,231 + 23.9% 169,977 151,027 + 12.5% Dodge Journey 8890 7922 + 12.2% 57,834 51,724 + 11.8% Ford Escape 26,714 28,188 - 5.2% 205,683 176,927 + 16.3% GMC Terrain 11,120 9143 + 21.6% 69,651 63,340 + 10.0% Honda CR-V 34,654 23,877 + 45.1% 207,643 207,643 + 8.6% Honda Element — — — 2 3 - 33.3% Hyundai Santa Fe 8102 4524 + 79.1% 56,105 43,583 + 28.7% Hyundai Tucson 3886 5376 - 27.7% 30,042 33,271 - 9.7% Jeep Compass 5249 3756 + 39.7% 37,249 28,368 + 31.3% Jeep Patriot 7170 5056 + 41.8% 52,857 43,633 + 21.1% Kia Sorento 10,568 10,529 + 0.4% 73,531 78,098 - 5.8% Kia Sportage 3140 3097 + 1.4% 21,037 27,285 - 22.9% Mazda CX-5 8506 4665 + 82.3% 54,388 24,904 + 118% Mazda CX-7 — 204 - 100% 1 11,187 - 99.99% Mazda Tribute — — — — 502 - 100% Mitsubishi Outlander 1233 607 + 103% 7588 5306 + 43.0% Nissan Rogue 17,273 12,626 + 36.8% 113,316 97,657 + 16.0% Subaru Forester 13,163 6956 + 89.2% 73,752 50,505 + 46.0% Suzuki Grand Vitara — 381 - 100% 1037 3416 - 69.6% Toyota RAV4 23,502 15,685 + 49.8% 144,314 120,371 + 19.9% Volkswagen Tiguan 2948 2746 + 7.4% 20,744 20,652 + 0.4% — — — — — — — Total 216,926 168,033 + 29.1% 1,429,796 1,263,701 + 13.1% —- Disclaimer: We've included the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento in the mix, although they're potential competitors for larger two and three-row SUVs. The Santa Fe Sport, for example, is more than six inches longer than the class-leading Honda CR-V with four more cubic feet of passenger volume. But it's also nearly seven inches shorter, bumper to bumper, than the Honda Pilot, and it offers significantly less overall passenger volume. The price points for the CR-V and Santa Fe/Sorento also line up more appropriately than if we were to compare the Hyundai and Kia with the Pilot. Automakers don't consult an official TTAC B&B Encyclopedia of Dimensions before development of a new vehicle gets underway, and models don't always fit into the boxes labelled small, midsize, and large. 17,277 more small crossover sales came from the Buick Encore, Mini Countryman, Mini Paceman, Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, Nissan Juke, and Subaru XV Crosstrek in August. And of the 18,297 sales collected by the Toyota FJ Cruiser, Nissan Xterra, and Jeep Wrangler, the Wrangler attracted 86%, or 15,825, of the trio's volume. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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