Movers and Losers: December 2010

Final sales numbers for December and all of 2010 won’t be released until tomorrow, but we got our Movers and Losers figures in, and there are a lot of surprises.

Since most 2010 new cars on lots are slow-moving leftovers with 2011 versions available, we’re going to focus strictly on 2011 model year vehicles. That brings the average number of days it takes for a car to arrive at a dealer until leaving in the hands of a new owner down to 35. If you included 2010 models, that figure would balloon to 92 days.

That doesn’t mean everything flew off lots in December. While new models, like the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Optima, moved swiftly, the also-new VW Eos and Infiniti M56 didn’t.

The Chevy Volt didn’t sell in high-enough volume to be added to our Movers list, but it was the fastest-selling model overall, at just three days. The Nissan Leaf wasn’t included in our data at all.
 
We also picked a few models that should offer a lot of value if they’re being discounted along the lines of the dust on their tires.

Movers December 2010

• 2011 Ford F-150 crew cab: 8 days
• 2011 Hyundai Elantra: 9 days
• 2011 BMW 535 xDrive: 11 days
• 2011 Kia Optima: 11 days
• 2011 Lexus LS 460: 11 days
• 2011 Audi Q5: 13 days
• 2011 Subaru Forester: 13 days
• 2011 Audi Q7: 13 days
• 2011 Nissan Juke: 14 days
• 2011 Honda Odyssey: 15 days
• 2011 BMW X5: 16 days
• 2011 Chevy Equinox: 16 days
• 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe: 16 days
• 2011 Audi A5: 17 days
• 2011 GMC Terrain: 17 days
• 2011 Infiniti QX56: 17 days
• 2011 BMW 328i xDrive sedan: 18 days
• 2011 Honda Element: 18 days
• 2011 Lincoln MKX: 18 days
• 2011 Mercedes-Benz C300: 18 days
• 2011 VW Touareg: 18 days

Losers December 2010

• 2011 Volvo C70: 135 days
• 2011 BMW ActiveHybrid 7: 117 days
• 2011 Infiniti M56: 112 days
• 2011 Toyota Camry Hybrid: 111 days
• 2011 Kia Rio5: 111 days
• 2011 Jaguar XK coupe: 95 days
• 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid: 93 days
• 2011 Jaguar XK convertible: 89 days
• 2011 BMW Z4: 88 days
• 2011 BMW 740Li: 86 days

Cars.com Picks

• 2011 Nissan Versa: 80 days
• 2011 BMW 335i sedan: 75 days
• 2011 VW Eos: 67 days
• 2011 Toyota Avalon: 60 days
• 2011 Mazda2: 59 days

About the Lists
The Movers and Losers list reports the average number of days it takes to sell models from the day they arrive on the lot until the final paperwork is signed by a buyer. This is not a days-of-inventory list like you may find on other sites. We’re now focusing on only 2011 model years.

For Movers, we only list vehicles that pass a certain threshold of sales in order to weed out limited editions, ultra-high-performance cars and others that might skew the numbers or otherwise inaccurately portray popularity. For Losers, we have removed any threshold to reflect 2011 models that may have the greatest incentives.