Despite massive year-over-year improvements, the Kia Sedona continues to be a relatively low-volume player in America's minivan segment. But are the gains made by the Kia significant enough to make life difficult for the top four?
Compared with November 2013, Sedona volume jumped 578% last month as a follow-up to October's 251% gain. Through the first three-quarters of 2014, Kia USA had been selling fewer than 630 Sedonas per month. 2376 were sold in October; 3538 in November. The van's market share through nine months was a paltry 1.3% as even the Mazda 5 and Nissan Quest were easily outselling the Kia. But in November 2014, the Kia Sedona grabbed 9.1% of America's minivan market.
November was also notable for the name of the minivan category's best seller. Toyota's revamped-for-2015 Sienna was America's top-selling minivan last month. November marked just the third time this year that something other than a Chrysler product topped the minivan sales charts: the Honda Odyssey did so in January; the Sienna in July.
| Minivan | November 2014 | November 2013 | % Change | 11 mos. 2014 | 11 mos. 2013 | % Change |
| Chrysler Town & Country | 8,055 | 11,288 | -28.6% | 127,331 | 112,551 | 13.1% |
| Dodge Grand Caravan | 8,842 | 9,614 | -8.0% | 122,899 | 112,793 | 9.0% |
| Honda Odyssey | 8,639 | 9,401 | -8.1% | 112,370 | 116,880 | -3.9% |
| Kia Sedona | 3,538 | 522 | 578% | 11,570 | 6,578 | 75.9% |
| Mazda 5 | 407 | 667 | -39.0% | 10,854 | 12,717 | -14.6% |
| Nissan Quest | 483 | 768 | -37.1% | 9,148 | 12,006 | -23.8% |
| Toyota Sienna | 8,946 | 8,820 | 1.4% | 112,814 | 111,737 | 1.0% |
| Volkswagen Routan | — | 258 | -100% | 1,103 | 1,825 | -39.6% |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Total | 38,910 | 41,338 | -5.9% | 508,089 | 478,087 | 6.3% |
Of course, the Sienna only led the way in the strictest sense. Chrysler and Dodge combined for 16,897 Town & Country/Grand Caravan sales, well in excess of the 8946 managed by the Sienna and the 8639 sold by November's third-ranked Odyssey.
The Odyssey was officially the best-selling minivan in America in calendar year 2013 but currently ranks fourth in the category through eleven months. Minivan sales in the United States are up 6% in 2014. Odyssey volume is down 4%. That just means fewer Odysseys in which to develop AMFS: Automatic Minivan Filth Syndrome.
As for the Chrysler twins, their U.S. volume plummeted in November but grew 11% to 250,230 units so far this year. The Town & Country has already topped 2013's full-year total and indeed the full-year totals from any of the last six years, in fact. The Grand Caravan won't match 2012's 141,468-unit performance, but the year will end with more Grand Caravans sold than in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, or 2013. Together, the Town & Country and Grand Caravan account for 49.2% of the minivans sold in America so far this year, up from 47.1% at this stage one year ago.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
The post Cain's Segments: Minivans In November 2014 appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
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