Top sellers for 2016

[kevm14]

http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/p/january- ... icles.html

Ford "F-series" was #1 again (733,287). And I will again take the opportunity to remind everyone that "F-series" is F150 through F550, even though the popular interpretation (I think) is that it is F150 through F350, or worse, just the F150. The Silverado and Sierra lines only run from 1/2 ton to 1 ton so equivalent to F150 to F350. And the Silverado (520,604) + Sierra (198,390) sold 718,994, Jan through Nov 2016. So still behind but very close, and again that differences includes the F450 and F550 which probably sell a lot more than the 14,293 vehicle difference in this comparison. It is legit to say GM sells more 1/2 ton through 1 ton pickup trucks than Ford, though I don't have the hard proof. It is also possible that "F-series" also includes the medium duty F650 and F750, making my case pretty cut and dry that GM sells more pickup trucks.

As far as a very similar brand comparison, Ford was #1 again at 2,262,493. But as an entire OEM, GM sales (2,723,667) beat Ford Motor Corp sales (2,361,426). Look at the numbers again. 2,262,493 out of 2,361,426 sales that Ford Motor makes are actual Ford branded vehicles, or 96%. At GM, Chevy accounts for 1,883,551 out of 2,723,667 or 69% of sales, which I would also point to as an indicator of a more balanced portfolio.

[kevm14]

Let's look at Cadillac and Lincoln, since Lincoln is the other ~4% of Ford Motor's sales.

Cadillac 2016 YTD is 148,560 or ~5% of GM sales.
Lincoln was 98,933 or 4% of Ford Motor sales.

What did we learn? If Cadillac is said to need help, then Lincoln must be in real trouble.

Trend wise, Lincoln sold a few thousand less than 2015 but more than they have since 2008 and remember December numbers aren't in yet.

Meanwhile at Cadillac, their 2016 numbers are actually the lowest since 2010 (again not including December numbers) and last December they sold almost 21k which puts them at their worst sales year since 2012. If we do that at Lincoln that would put them at their best year since 2007. Generally Lincoln is slowly trending up breaking 100k in 2015. Cadillac is a little bit bumpy, generally up but they did not continue the post-recession growth that Lincoln saw and stalled a little in 2014 and 2016 is even worse. Even if trends continue it will be years before they cross and Lincoln actually sells more vehicles. I don't expect that to happen. And if the Confusion as it is currently conceived "saves" Lincoln I will buy a hat and eat it.

[kevm14]

http://www.motortrend.com/news/automake ... B1A20855A2

I guess the final 2016 number are in and this compares YoY across each automaker.

Worst performance:

The Volkswagen Group reports its U.S. sales separately for each brand. Still in the throes of dieselgate, its namesake brand plunged 7.6 percent to 322,948 units.

Best performance:

Meanwhile, Subaru set a new sales record of 615,132 vehicles, jumping 5.6 percent from 2015.

And the big ones starting with most sales:

General Motors (-1.3 percent, 3,042,775 vehicles)

Ford (-0.4 percent, 2,614,697 vehicles)

FCA (-<1 percent, 2,244,315 vehicles)

Toyota (-2 percent, 2,449,630 vehicles)

Honda (+3.2 percent, 1,637,942 vehicles)

Nissan (+5.4 percent, 1,564,423 vehicles)

Mazda also did pretty bad:

After trimming the Mazda2 and Mazda5 from its lineup, Mazda sales dropped 6.7 percent last year to a total of 297,773 units. Slowing sales of the Mazda3, Mazda6, and CX-9 contributed to the decline.

Comments:

The worse performing auto maker in 2016 is Mazda, they keep losing sales year in year out, the art of producing a vehicle does not end with good design, engineering , good interior and dynamics, it actually ends when a customer buys the vehicle. Mazda has not figure out how to sell their products or maybe they don't have good products.

[kevm14]

Ford "F-series" was #1 again (733,287). And I will again take the opportunity to remind everyone that "F-series" is F150 through F550, even though the popular interpretation (I think) is that it is F150 through F350, or worse, just the F150.

This mistake is working well for Ford.

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/f-1 ... 7D536DF1BF

This year will be the 40th year that Ford’s iconic F-150 has ranked as the best-selling truck in the U.S. (outselling the Silverado and Sierra combined by 24,243 trucks in 2016).

People see F-series and it is almost just second nature to be like "oh, they mean F-150 obviously."

The facts say that F-series outsold the Silverado + Sierra. Again, those nameplates only cover 1/2 ton through 1-ton. F-series includes F-150 through F-750. Now I have to correct the entire internet.

[kevm14]

I posted this to M/T:

Alright this has gone on long enough. Everyone pay attention: Ford "F-series" is not the same thing as F-150. The Ford F-series did, in fact, outsell the Silverado + Sierra in 2016. But guess what? F-series includes F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550, F-650 and F-750. Silverado and Sierra only cover 1/2 tons through 1 tons, meaning F-150 through F-350. In fact, GM is out of the medium duty truck business. It would then stand to reason that Ford sells a lot more than 24,000 F-450s, 550s, 650s and 750s combined. Which means GM outsells Ford in pickup trucks as most people think of them (1/2 ton through 1 ton). This whole "F-series" thing is really incredibly misleading - even the article author conflates F-series with F-150. Wrong!!

What we really need is data that compares F-150 to Silverado + Sierra 1500s, and also for the 3/4 and 1 tons. I don't know of that data is publicly available as Ford happily shoves it all into one big-looking F-series bucket.

[kevm14]

In a way I should have known better - I already got two responses from Ford robots who did not address the content of my post but instead reminded me of the GM bailout. Wow, 7 years later, and still clever! Not really...

[Bob]

This is why I gave up on pretty much all forums except for this one.

[kevm14]

I was thinking of that exact meme when I made that comment.

[bill25]

The worse performing auto maker in 2016 is Mazda, they keep losing sales year in year out, the art of producing a vehicle does not end with good design, engineering , good interior and dynamics, it actually ends when a customer buys the vehicle. Mazda has not figure out how to sell their products or maybe they don't have good products.

Mazda suffers from the same thing as Cadillac. Both make really good products in comparison to their competitors, and nobody cares.

Mazda wins just about every Car and Driver comparison but for some reason, this doesn't transform into sales. The new 6 and 3 actually look really good. They are applauded for their interiors being better than their class, and win best drivers cars for the class. I am not sure what they could even do to generate sales because the press couldn't be better. I also disagree with the sentiment that they don't make good products. The products they make are good, though I will admit they don't have much of a variety. There should be a performance model for the 6. Having a 4 cyl as the highest engine for a "driver's" midsized car is weak. There is no halo car, and it does seem odd to market to "drivers" but not make a fast sports car.

[kevm14]

I emailed the founder of goodcarbadcar.net. Here is my e-mail for your amusement:

Tim,

Something has been bothering me for years (I know, I should see a shrink). Ford has brilliantly lumped its pickup trucks into a single nameplate that they call “F-series.” Research indicates that this includes F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550, F-650 and F-750. And by research I mean that Wikipedia says so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_F-Series

Can you confirm that this is correct? If so, using “F-series” to compare to GM or FCA’s truck offerings is pointless. Ram goes up to 5500 but GM has stopped at 1 tons (i.e. 3500 or 350) for the Silverado/Sierra name plates for as long as I can remember.

So that begs the question – is it legit (in your opinion) to basically pump up “F-series” sales by including trucks that, frankly, have no bearing on what I would call a “pickup truck?” It seems that Ford is highly befitting from this as every F-150 article talks about F-series sales. Every reader now conflates “F-series” with “F-150” and concludes, well, the F-150 must be the best-selling vehicle in the country.

Is it? Do you have other data? What about at least numbers for F-150 through F-350? My theory is GM sells more ½ through 1-ton pickup trucks than either Ford or Ram, and since these are what I think most people consider “pickup trucks” I think this is relevant.

Thanks for reading,
-Kevin