The Rogue, CR-V and RAV4 are among December’s top 10 best-selling cars, with the No. 4 Rogue landing as the month’s most popular non-pickup truck. We combed through 60 months of past sales and the Rogue has never held that title; Nissan says December was the SUV’s best sales month ever. Indeed, backed by a Wookie-sized “Star Wars” marketing tie-in, the refreshed Rogue flew 52.9 percent versus its record year-ago month.
Sales for the CR-V (up 21.1 percent) flourished as shoppers found more to choose from — Honda had 66 days’ CR-V inventory in December, per Automotive News, versus just 49 days a year ago — as well as an incoming redesign for the 2017 model year. The 2017 CR-V isn’t everywhere just yet, but as of today, it accounts for more than 1 in 5 new CR-Vs in Cars.com inventory.
The RAV4 (up 16.8 percent) and Highlander (up 57.9 percent) both notched double-digit gains. Both models have recent updates, and shoppers found higher purchase incentives on the Highlander in December versus a year ago, per Automotive News. Unsurprisingly, non-luxury SUV segments of all stripes gained steam in December. Even full-sized, truck-based models — an age-old group that’s been long surpassed in sales by three-row crossovers — gained 27.3 percent.
Cars.com chart by Paul Dolan
Pricier gas, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to have stoked new demand for traditional cars. Non-luxury subcompact, compact and mid-size segments all decreased in December. Case in point: The Toyota Corolla, whose sales figures now include the ex-Scion Corolla iM, fell 7.4 percent in December to tumble six spots, from No. 4 on November’s list to No. 10 in December. In fact, no sedan, coupe or hatchback landed higher than seventh place among December’s top sellers. Among the four that were on the list — two Toyotas and two Hondas — sales dropped for all of them.
Still, overall sales likely set up 2016 as another record year. With the top seven automakers reporting numbers, sales increased 2.5 percent in December — a notch that likely sets up 2016 as the seventh straight year of sales increases.
What were the best-selling cars for the whole year? Stay tuned.
Assistant Managing Editor-News
Kelsey Mays
Former Assistant Managing Editor-News Kelsey Mays likes quality, reliability, safety and practicality. But he also likes a fair price.