Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: September 2009
The Cash for Clunkers program ended before September began, so every sales number for the month should be free of any government-spurred buying frenzy. Overall, sales for many automakers were actually up, but GM and Chrysler took huge hits of 45% and 42%, respectively. Among GM’s numbers were huge losses from dead or to-be-sold brands like Saturn (down 83.7%), Hummer (down 81.5%), Saab (down 72.6%) and Pontiac (down 52.5%).
There’s some silver lining in the overall picture. Even with slower sales, other automakers weren’t hurt as badly by sales in September as they were earlier in the year. Ford and Nissan only dipped 6% and 7%, respectively, compared to September of last year. It was also in September 2008 that the U.S. economy spun into a freefall. That means October 2009 might look rosy compared to October 2008.
Brands seeing positive growth last month were Kia and Hyundai, Volvo, BMW and Subaru.
On to our best-sellers. The list is nearly the same as last month with lower overall sales and mostly the same players. The Toyota Prius would have been No. 11 with 10,984 units but just missed the cut. It barely outsold both the Ford Fusion (10,834 units) and Chevy Malibu (10,479). Top 10 Best-Sellers
- Ford F -Series: 33,877
- Toyota Camry: 25,745
- Honda Accord: 20,826
- Toyota Corolla; 20,741
- Chevy Silverado: 19,401
- Honda Civic: 16,093
- Honda CR-V: 14,554
- Dodge Ram: 13,452
- Chevy Impala: 13,047
- Nissan Altima: 12,149
