2018 was an excellent year for all things automotive. So, just who were the big winners and losers? With the release of the 2018 sales data, we can finally answer those questions.
The biggest winner in the USA was undoubtedly pick-up trucks, specifically the Ford F-Series. Yes, once again Ford’s bread-and-butter took home top honors with 909,330 units sold. That’s up 1.4% from the 2017 figure too and makes it easy to see why the brand is giving up on cars.
Nipping at the heels of Ford was the Ram Pickup, which moved 536,980 units. This represented an increase of 7.2% over 2017. The Ram also knocked the Chevy Silverado down into third in a rare victory.
While GM still sold a respectable 531,158 Silverado pick-ups, it didn’t exactly fare too well. Compare the sales number to 2017 and there’s a 9.3% drop off.
There is a positive on the truck front from GM though. If you add up the Silverado, Sierra, Colorado, and Canyon, GM moved a total of 973,469 trucks throughout 2018. However, Ford will release the Ranger and FCA will bring out the Jeep Gladiator this year. This could spell trouble for GM throughout 2019 and cause it to lose the top spot.
As for SUVs, Toyota came up big with its RAV4. Altogether it sold 427,168, accounting for a 4.8% increase over 2017. Following up in a close second was the Nissan Rogue with 412,110. Honda rounded out the top three with 379,021 CR-Vs sold.
Like the F-Series, the Toyota Camry continues to come out on top in the sedan category. Throughout 2018, Toyota sold a reasonable 343,439 Camrys. However, when you compare the sales data to 2017 it paints a bleaker picture, with sales dropping off by 11.3%.
Venturing in the world of muscle cars, the Mustang found itself in the top spot once again. With 75,842 Stangs sold, new models like the Bullitt helped fuel interest in the sporty coupe. However, like most cars, it saw a decline of 7.4% over the 2017 numbers.
The Dodge Challenger fell into the second place spot with 66,716 vehicles sold. This is an increase of 3.4% over 2017. It’s a bit surprising too since its LX platform is now 15 years old.
The biggest loser in the muscle car wars was the Camaro. GM only managed to sell 50,963 of them in 2018, which is a shocking 25% drop off. It seems like the new front fascia didn’t win any favor from buyers.
Making the biggest year-on-year gains were Tesla and Kia. Model 3 sales hit 140,317 in 2018, representing an 8,300% increase on 2017’s 1,667 cars. That makes it by far the most popular electric car on sale, with 1.6 cars for every Toyota Prius sold. The Kia Stinger was a little behind at 16,806, but that’s still almost 1,900% more than last year.
King of all the increases was the Honda Insight. Despite Honda discontinuing the car four years before, it still sold three in 2017. The new model introduced in the middle of last year sold 12,513, for a 417,000% boost in the figures. Its hydrogen sibling, the Clarity FCV, saw a 700% increase to 20,174 sales across the year too.
Weirdly, there are some vehicles on the list that weren’t even made in 2018. Sure, the Lexus LFA is on the list, but that’s almost expected. Vehicles that are unexpected are things like the Toyota Venza with nine sales or the Honda CR-Z with 30 units moved.
The worst selling vehicle of all was the hydrogen fuel cell Hyundai Nexo, at eight. However, since that’s limited to just two dealers in Southern California, it makes a bit of sense.
Weeding out things like limited editions and low production number vehicles, the worst selling vehicle was the Audi TT. In 2018, it only mustered a sales figure of 1,289 units total — or one for every 705 Ford F-Series…
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