NOVEMBER SWING

For those Mercury salespeople in the USA who thought November was a great month.... you were right. Hummer salespeople who figured things weren't about to improve... you were right. November was about as bad as October.

check out the October Swing here

Ford dealers pushed the Fusion, and Mulally can thank them now. Fusion sales were 38.8% higher than November of 2006. Cadillac has a new CTS in showrooms and MotorTrend's Car of the Year sold at a 55.1% higher clip than it did last November. The new Accord also helped Honda, as the brand saw 10.4% higher sales with the aid of 28,161 Accord's (a 25.2% jump) going out the doors. The major numbers are ↓.

BIGGEST SELLERS

Toyota - 172,341
Chevrolet - 151,642
Ford - 147,310

GREATEST IMPROVEMENT NOV/07 vs. NOV/06

Mercury - 27.6%
Mitsubishi - 13.8%
Hyundai - 12%
Honda - 10.4%
Kia - 8.9%

WORST DOWNFALL NOV/07 vs. NOV/06

Hummer - 30.5%
Buick - 26.8%
Acura - 24.9%
Saab - 19.8%
Saturn - 17%

U.S. AUTO SALES FOR NOVEMBER 2008

Not as though you were expecting otherwise, the Numbers for November/2008 in the automotive sales segment of the economy are disastrous. Tata, whose hotel was just blown to bits by terrorists in Mumbai, continues to decline requests to release sales figures for Jaguar and Land Rover. Mini, the line in bold and itallics below, is configured that way for a significant reason. The BMW-owned British small car builder was the only brand to post sales that were better this November than in November of '07. The only others to come close to that in America were, surprisingly, Lincoln, and not-so-surprisingly, Subaru. Click here for last month's story and click here for the Canadian results.

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Toyota: -33.8% to 114,084

Ford: -30% to 103,055

Chevrolet: -36.9% to 95,756

Honda: -30.6% to 68,345

Dodge: -44.3% to 44,941

Nissan: -44.4% to 38,974

Jeep: -41.8% to 20,302

GMC: -41.5% to 20,214

Chrysler: -56% to 20,017

Hyundai: -39.7% to 19,221

Lexus: -34.7% to 16,223

BMW: -36% to 15,217

Kia: -37.2% to 15182

VW: -19.2% to 14,295

Mazda: -31.3% to 14,134

Mercedes-Benz: -38.2% to 14,102

Subaru: -7.8% to 13,706

Pontiac: -53.4% to 12,140

Cadillac: -48.3% to 8,815

Saturn: -46.2% to 8,130

Lincoln: -8.3% to 8,019

Acura: -38.9% to 7,888

Mercury: -41.4% to 7,744

Infiniti: -28% to 7,631

Buick: -43.3% to 7,516

Audi: -25.4% to 6,788

Mitsubishi: -35.4% to 5096

Mini: +43% to 4,545

Volvo: -46.5% to 4,404

Suzuki: -46% to 3,216

Hummer: -63.9% to 1,454

Porsche: -48.2% to 1,378

Saab: -57.5% to 852

OCTOBER SWING

Compare the sales of automakers and their brands in the USA for October 2007 versus October 2006, and these are the notable achievements and disappointments. The Good Car Guy tells you what the backmarkers need for change to occur.

THE GERMAN BRANDS CHANNEL REGGIE JACKSON

Porsche +16.9%
Audi +10.9%
BMW +8.3%
Mercedes-Benz +6.5%
Volkswagen +4.1%

KOREA WAS INCONSISTENT

Kia +20.5%
Hyundai -4.6% ( Next Tiburon needs to spice up the showroom... big time)

THE GENERAL FINDS SOME TROOPS FIGHTING; SOME AREN'T

Cadillac +19.9%
GMC +10.2%
Chevrolet +0.6%
Saturn -5.9% (Where are you Astra?)
Buick -12.% (More Enclave beauty for the rest of the lineup)
Pontiac -17.5% (G8... hello, I'm waiting)
Saab -19.9% (Changes necessary for a + sign? Funny)
Hummer -33.2% (See Saab)

SOME JAPANESE BIT PLAYERS TAKE BIG BITES

Mazda +13.3%
Nissan +9.8%
Suzuki +5.6%
Honda +3.4%
Infiniti +1.8%
Lexus +0.6%
Toyota +0.5%
Mitsubishi -3.9% (More than just a new Evo)
Subaru -6.5% (What? Another quick redo of a new Impreza?)
Acura -22.2% (Gotta say "Dunno" on this one... Maybe an Integra)

FORD WILL SPIN THIS FOR GOOD

Mercury +20.2%
Lincoln +13%
Land Rover +1.7%
Ford -16.4% (My list is too long for this post)
Volvo -11% (Heavy V70 marketing and a true sports sedan)

OTHER NEGATIVE FINISHERS

Chrysler -6.6% (Quality before warranty)
Dodge -9.6% (See above)
Jeep -24% (SEE ABOVE, eh?)
Mini -11% ($500 off and better supply)

AMERICAN AUTO SALES FOR OCTOBER 2008

Expecting a repeat performance of September in the United States' vehicle sales statistics, The Good Car Guy was shocked to find two outperformers. How dare Mini and Audi stray from the flock of upside-down trending? Therefore, unlike September when The Good Car Guy forsook the - symbol in favour of simply typing in the Numbers, this month requires a full +/- slate. Take note, Subaru hasn't yet posted but did complete its best ever October in Canada. (*Update - Subie just posted.)

Under Tata, Jaguar and Land Rover have forsaken public disclosure in America. Buick, Mercury, Pontiac, and Suzuki all show sales that are just above half what they were last October. Cadillac, Chrysler, GMC, Hummer, Porsche, Saturn, and Volvo posted less than half the sales of October/2007. Arranged by their total sales, here's the list of major automakers competing in the United States. (Find Canada's stats for 10/2008 here)

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Toyota: -21.3% to 135,818

Ford: -27.9% to 114,969

Chevrolet: -40.3% to 107,313

Honda: -25.7% to 75,756

Dodge: -27% to 53,267

Nissan: -33.4% to 49,833

Jeep: -32.9% to 21,360

GMC: -52.5% to 21,109

Hyundai: -31.1% to 20,820

BMW: -13.9% to 20,203

Chrysler: -50.8% to 19,903

Mazda: -25.9% to 16,442

Lexus: -35.2% to 16,283

Volkswagen: -7.9% to 15,889

Kia: -38.5% to 15,483

Mercedes-Benz: -34.3% to 14,996

Pontiac: -48.2% to 13,054

Subaru: -14% to 12,917

Acura: -21.6% to 10,108

Cadillac: -55.1% to 9,541

Saturn: -54.6% to 8,583

Buick: -46.3% to 7,642

Mitsubishi: 19.3% to 7,486

Audi: +0.3% to 7,443

Lincoln: -27.7% to 7,399

Infiniti: -28.5% to 7,112

Mercury: -47.4% to 6,753

Mini: +56.4% to 5,272

Volvo: -52.1% to 3,717

Suzuki: -46.7% to 3,482

Saab: 13.2% to 1,975

Porsche: -50.1% to 1,427

Hummer: -64.6% to 1,368

AMERICAN AUTO SALES FOR SEPTEMBER 2008

If the measurement of a successful automaker's year-over-year sales stats can't start with a plus sign, you know it's been a bad month. Early this year, the brother and father-in-law of The Good Car Guy spent extensive amounts of time in Labrador, the most northern part of Newfoundland & Labrador, in Canada's north. It was winter; it was cold; it was stormy. 

Most curiously of all, the cold was so easily assumed that the obligatory 'minus' statement that comes before most Canadians state the temperature in Celsius is, actually, not obligatory at all. One can rest assured that the temperature will not rise above 0 degrees, the freezing mark, so Labradorians reduce unnecessary conversations by simply stating, "Nine", or "Fourteen". Everybody knows they mean "below zero". 

Likewise, in automotive sales for September 2008. Not a single manufacturer was able to produce better sales this September than they did in September of 2007. Therefore, GoodCarBadCar.net will be skipping the negative sign and simply stating the percentage drop. You can all assume the story's bad - your assumptions will be correct.

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Chevrolet: 11.2% to 172,803

Toyota: 31.8% to 128,215

Ford: 33.8% to 102,685

Honda: 23.2% to 86,629

Dodge: 25.2% to 62,572

Nissan: 38.4% to 51,786

GMC: 12.8% to 39,029

Hyundai: 25.4% to 24,765

Chrysler: 25.2% to 23,346

Pontiac: 26.7% to 23,324

Jeep: 42.8% to 21,431

Mercedes-Benz: 16.4% to 18,779

Saturn: 10.8% to 18,528

Kia: 27.8% to 17,382

Volkswagen: 9.4% to 17,109

Mazda: 35.6% to 16,169

Lexus: 36.1% to 16,045

BMW: 29.5% to 14,744

Subaru: 11.9% to 14,491

Buick: 20.5% to 14,121

Cadillac: 39.1% to 12,432

Acura: 30.4% to 9,997

Infiniti: 24.1% to 7,779

Audi: 5.4% to 7,584

Lincoln: 22.5% to 7,571

Mitsubishi: 39% to 7,378

Mercury: 43.2% to 6,478

Suzuki: 44% to 4,081

Volvo: 51.8% to 4,054

Mini: 6.7% to 3,762

Hummer: 54.8% to 2,298

Saab: 27.2% to 1,765

Porsche: 44.8% to 1,458

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Note the absence of Jaguar and Land Rover. New owners Tata have decided not to share their American sales figures, although you will be able to see the stats for Canada's auto sales coming up.

LUXURY CAR SALES IN AMERICA - NUMBERS

"It is wrong to say certain segments of the market are immune to economic downturns in the market, as far as we're concerned." Who said it?

That'd be a Bentley vice-president, Geoff Dowding, who happens to be the worldwide operations manager for Volkswagen-owned Bentley as well. For quite some time, luxury vehicle sales were immune to the current economic downturn that displayed American sales statistics that can be seen here, here, and here.

Such a anti-trend fad was bound to end. Some Numbers are beginning to reveal the effect of economic downturns on American luxury car sales. Those Numbers are below.

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27.9 - percentage drop in American Bentley sales over the first half of 2008 compared with the first half of 2007 when 2,527 Bentleys were sold

20,268 - total sales of the Lexus LS in the United States during the first six months of 2007; 7,248 more than in the first half of '08

25.7 - percentage sales drop in America for the Mercedes-Benz-owned Maybach brand over the first six months of this year

11,216 - total sales of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class over the first half of 2008; 3,854 fewer than the same period of 2007

28.6 - percentage drop in Porsche 911 sales through July of this year, down from 8,021 in 2007.5 to 5,724 during the first half of this year

JULY'S TOP 10 SELLERS IN AMERICA

After a very small taste test, Honda has relinquished the best-selling vehicle in America position to - only semi-surprising - the Ford F-Series pickup. This extended Top 5 post displays the, ummm... top ten best-selling vehicles in the United States for July of 2008.

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#10 - CHEVROLET MALIBU: Possibly GM's most important new introduction this year, the good-looking and capable Malibu midsize sedan exited Chevy dealers 16,637 times.

#9 - HONDA CR-V: 17,419 examples of Honda's first 4-cylinder cute-ute were passed on to consumers in July. Once derided for not powering up the CR-V, Honda now looks brilliant. As you'd expect.

#8 - DODGE RAM: Pickup truck sales may be tumbling down; down; down; down and further down, but many customers still need a genuine truck. Others may be willing to downgrade their luxury requirements in order to find gas money on a truck that, as you likely noticed, has been heavily discounted. 21,328 people found themselves in a new Ram in July.

#7 - NISSAN ALTIMA: Not that many years ago, Nissan was enlarging their lesser-known midsize sedan and positioning it directly against all Accord and Camry derivatives. 24,429 liked the thought of the big Altima in July.

#6 - HONDA CIVIC: After a brief reign at the top, the Civic plunged. Fret not ye proud Civic nation: 29,125 didn't like the thought of discounted trucks and slightly dropping gas prices and bought Honda's small sedan.

#5 - CHEVROLET SILVERADO: Many critics believe the Silverado/GMC Sierra duo is the best truck(s). Unable to outsell Ford, Chevrolet ridded itself of 32,989 Silverados.

#4 - TOYOTA COROLLA/MATRIX: It's not hard to see the appeal of the planet's best-selling nameplate. Reliability, durability, quality are present in spades. 34,438 acknowledged that truth with their wallets in July.

#3 - HONDA ACCORD: Though unable to claim direct influence over 41,382 buyers who purchased or leased Honda's venerable sedan in July, The Good Car Guy was smart enough to suggest it as one of the cars to be driven and owned in 2008 in The Good 12.

#2 - TOYOTA CAMRY: Recommended not as the most fun or most desirable, the Camry is a very good car to own. 42,131 new and repeat Toyota Camry buyers in July prove it.

#1 - FORD F-SERIES: The 2009 F-150 is delayed to run discounted '08 models off of dealer lots. It looks as though incentives did their job to the tune of 44,829 F-Series pickups in July.

AMERICA'S JULY AUTO SALES STATS

July was longer this year. Uh... lemme explain. In 2007, automakers had just 24 days to sell cars in July while this year, July had 26 selling days. Therefore it's theoretically possible that a manufacturer with a - symbol beside its numerical percentage actually sold more cars this July. In fact, with the BMW Group; Kia; Subaru; Suzuki; and Volkswagen all find themselves within that theory. July was successful - but not as successful as one might think at first glance. By brands, and ignoring unrevealed sales from Land Rover and Jaguar, here are America's auto sales statistics from July 2008 with a twist. There ain't no alphabetical order below. You can read'em first to worst in total sales.

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Toyota: -18% to 175,242

Ford: -20.6% to 138,175

Chevrolet: -30.5% to 137,823

Honda: -8.2% to 125,916

Nissan: +1.7% to 86,070

Dodge: -23.5% to 54,546

Hyundai: -13.6% to 40,703

Kia: -3% to 28,021

GMC: -42.5% to 27,447

Pontiac: -22% to 25,373

BMW: -9.1% to 23,914

Jeep: -44% to 22,705

Mazda: -20% to 22,418

Lexus: -25% to 22,182

Chrysler: -44.4% to 20,858

Mercedes: +3% to 20,733

Volkswagen: -4% to 20,422

Saturn: -20.2% to 17,602

Subaru: -2.7% to 16,271

Cadillac: -31% to 13,022

Acura: -17% to 12,828

Buick: -44.5% to 10,013

Infiniti: -10.9% to 9,249

Mitsubishi: -14% to 9,644

Mercury: -20% to 9,412

Lincoln: 8.8% to 8,819

Suzuki: -5.8% to 8,103

Audi: -11.9% to 6,804

Volvo: -50.4% to 5,124

Mini: +14.9% to 5,063

Porsche: -10.6% to 3,128

Saab: -42.4% to 2,026

FINAL FACTS FROM USA AUTO SALES IN JUNE

Frankly, it sucks to be an automaker participating in the American marketplace these days. Honda is rockin' and rollin'. Mini sales are steadily increasing, but its parent company is one of many luxury manufacturers that struggled in June. Follow this link to read GCBC's first look at June's sales in the States, or click here for the second look. Here are some interesting facts and figures that haven't made their way into the discussion in this space yet.

14,500,000 cars will probably be sold in the United States by the end of the year. That sounds like plenty, but will actually be the worst sales year since the mid-90s.

Honda was one of the more successful brands in June; riding a wave that's been growing all year. As other automakers continue to compete (or attempt to) with large SUVs and V8-engined trucks, Honda has placed two of its cars ahead of the Ford F-150 as a top seller over the last two months. However, the only Honda that comes close to resembling the prototypical domestic pickup, the Ridgeline, sold at a rate 41.5% down on June of 2007.

Last year, the 30 days from between the end of May and the beginning of July saw somewhere around 55,000 Ford F-150s find driveways in the USA. Ford sold just 38,789 F-150s last month. Desperately needing to rid themselves of '08 pickups when the '09 model is ready, Ford has delayed the launch for two months.

If you think the 40.5% drop for the F-150 is bad, just look at the Explorer and Expedition. Overall, Ford SUVs were down 55%. Expedition sales were down 59.8% compared with the same period last year. Explorer sales dropped; not as badly. Does a 52% drop relate to "not as bad"? Only the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Volvo V70, and Volvo C70 sold better this June than last year among Ford Motor Company models.

BMW's British outpost, Mini, had a tremendous month. It appears more than likely that Mini of 2008 will outsell Mini of 2009 by 18-22%; somewhere around 52,000 Coopers, Cooper Convertibles, and Clubmans. 

Ignoring the build location of cars like the Civic, Accord, Camry, Corolla, and many others (which are frequently manufacturered not in Japan but in Canada or the USA), the Asian brands outsold American brands by almost a percentage point. Nevertheless, Toyota posted its greatest decline in year-over-year sales in ten years. The new Toyota Corolla, finally completely on-stream, fulfilled expectation with a 15.6% sales jump.

AMERICA'S JUNE AUTO SALES STATS GROUPED

While some automobile manufacturers are fearful; others are frothing at the mouth with anticipation. Now is exactly when you want to be known as a builder of small, fuel-efficient cars. In other words, Hummer wants to be Honda. Jeep would love to be Mini.

But they're not. Neither is Chevrolet, Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Cadillac, Buick, or Pontiac known for their 4-cylinder urban runabouts. 

Although it helps to offer something small and economical (as Chevrolet does with the Aveo, Cobalt, and HHR), the pain you'll feel at the same time when your larger vehicles (Tahoe, Silverado, TrailBlazer, Suburban, Impala) struggle even though you're still building them strips away the joy you could assume would be present with 4-cylinder concentration.

Thus, automakers like Honda, which offers not a single V8 engine and only three models equipped with a V6 as standard equipment, are loving the general consumer's desire to save at the pump. In all honesty, Honda can see what happens with a lineup that's thicker with cylinders. Their luxury brand, Acura, builds one crossover/SUV that's exclusively equipped with a V6 and two sedans that feature a standard V6. Sales at Acura were 16.4% lower this June than last. Acura's newest, smaller 4-cylinder sedan posted its best June ever with year-to-date sales up 2.2% compared with the first six months of 2007.

You see the point we're trying to get at. Sell fuel-efficient cars? Sell much. Sell trucks and SUVs? Sell not so much. There's more to separating the automakers between the "have fuel-efficiency" and the "have not fuel efficiency". Check out the categories GoodCarBadCar.net has listed below and pay close attention to the + and - signs. If you see a "TG12" symbol beside a brand, follow the link to find that maker's cars in The Good 12. Onthe contrary, if you see a "TB8" symbol beside a brand, follow the link to find that maker's cars in The Bad 8.

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4-CYLINDER HEAVY: 7/7

Mini +40.5% TG12

Honda +17.9% TG12

Suzuki +6.6%

Hyundai +14% TG12

Kia +21% TB8

Mazda +3.8%

Volkswagen +12.8% TG12

MAINSTREAM: 1/12

Buick -34.4%

Chevrolet -3.5% TG12

Chrysler -36% TB8

Dodge -21.3%

Ford -19.8% TB8

Mercury -16.3%

Mitsubishi -35.2%

Nissan -8.3% TB8

Pontiac -5.1%

Saturn -1.9%

Subaru +18.4%

Toyota -10.3%

PREMIUM: 3/12

Acura -16.4%

Audi +18.5% TG12 

BMW -34.4% TG12

Cadillac -3.1%

Infiniti -0.9% TG12

Jaguar +8.5%

Lexus -21% TB8

Lincoln -12.5% TB8

Mercedes-Benz +12.4%

Porsche -8.7% TG12

Saab -51.7% TB8

Volvo -17.7% TG12

TRUCK/SUV-HEAVY: 0/4

GMC  -14.6%

Hummer -54.2%

Jeep -32.8%

Land Rover -40.5%

JUNE AUTO SALES HIGHLIGHTS FROM AMERICA

BMW's Mini division continues to light up American sales statistics. Hummer is doing its part to dim any shining light.

Indeed, Hummer's downfall is far greater than Mini's improvement. General Motors' urban-military SUV-only brand saw sales cut in half than June of '07. Minis sold at a rate 40.5% greater this June than June of last year. That doesn't exactly mean that there were 40.5% more Minis sold this June than last, or 54.2% fewer Hummers. Sales rates reflect the daily sales rates; and there were three fewer days to sell cars this June - 24 vs. 27.

Audi, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Suzuki, and Volkswagen all sold at a greater rate this June. That goes against what you'll hear about the industry as a whole. Moreoever, the success of these companies (and Mini) flies in the face of the U.S. domestic automakers.

Brands that depend on trucks and sport-utility vehicles struggled mightily. Chevrolet dropped 3.5%, Dodge was down 21.3%, Ford fell 19.8%. Toyota, one must admit, sells a lot of SUVs and crossovers under a lot of different names. Struggling to supply customers with what they want (Camry and Yaris sales were lower than last June) and attempting to sell the RAV4, Highlander, Sequoia, 4Runner, Land Cruiser, FJ Cruiser, Tundra, and Tacoma ends you up with 10.3% lower sales this last month, compared to the same period of last year.

Heavily truck/SUV-centric brands like GMC, Land Rover, and Jeep saw sales this June drop 14.6%, 40.5%, and 32.8%, respectively. Contrast this with Daimler's smart city car maker, a brand that wasn't available in the States at this time last year. Mini, one possible comparable, sold 4,174 cars in June. Roger Penske's dealers sold 2,545 smarts, a terrific result.

More to come.

DOMESTIC AUTOMAKERS MAY/08 RESULTS

It was a common belief at the beginning of May, when automakers released their sales date for April, that the first couple days of June would reveal bad news, as well. The commonality of any belief does not prove that belief to be true; however, the statistics manifest as proof that the common belief held true.

In a month where total vehicle sales fell over 10%, car sales climbed over 2%. Small cars were especially successful. Two cars that have not grabbed critical acclaim, Ford's Focus and the Dodge Caliber, jumped 52% and 7%, respectively compared with May of last year. 

It doesn't seem that long ago that America's love affair with truck-based SUVs and cheap gas led to a majority of vehicle sales being classified as trucks. In the 31 days of May, that former majority dropped to the low 40s%. Here are the Numbers for American automakers and their sub-brands in America in May... in agony.

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37.8 - posted percentage loss for Buick for May 2008 compared with the same period one year earlier

26 - posted percentage loss for Cadillac, May/08 against May/07

27.1 - posted percentage loss for Chevrolet, May/08 against May/07

28 - posted percentage loss for the whole Chrysler group, May/08 vs May/07

16.6 - posted percentage loss for Ford, May/08 against May/07

38.8 - posted percentage loss for GMC, an all truck and SUV brand for May of this year against May/07

61.7 - posted percentage loss for Hummer, an all heavy-duty SUV brand that GM is interested in selling, for the May/08 vs May/07 comparison

42 - percentage loss for luxury brand Lincoln for May of '08 against the same period last year

28 - percentage drop in sales faced by Mercury, Ford's pointless brand, for May/08 against May/07

25.9 - percentage drop in sales for Pontiac, a brand featuring some new models, for this May against last May

28 - percentage drop in sales for GM-owned Saab for May/08 against May/07

32.7 - percentage plummeting in product sales for Saturn, featuring its best model lineup ever, for May/08 vs May/07

24 - percentage drop in sales for Ford-owned Volvo for May/08 against May/07

18,455 - lead, in sales, that the Chevrolet brand had over the whole Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep group in May

15,603 - combined sales in May for FMC's luxury duo (Volvo and Lincoln), out-performing GM's Swedish-American dup (Saab and Cadillac) by 107

97.5 - Pontiac Vibe's percentage points lead it held over the Pontiac brand as a whole in May-vs-May sales

23.4 - average decline in sales for Ford's four main SUVs, the Escape; Edge; Explorer; and Expedition

44.3 - jump in sales this May vs last May, measured in percent, for the Chevrolet Aveo

MAY AUTO SALES HIGHLIGHTS FROM AMERICA

A deeper look is yet to come, but the most startling automobile-related statistics out of the USA in May are ready for intake tonight. It wasn't long ago that we all realized the Ford F-series pickup was in in trouble - not just of losing sales; which we knew had already occurred and would continue to, but of losing its sales crown. 

For at least one month, the F-150 more than lost its sales crown - it fell straight off the podium. The Toyota Camry, then, took control? Uh.... not quite. Becoming especially Canadian-like in May, Americans bought more Honda Civics than any other vehicle in the fifth month of 2008. Toyota's Corolla also outperformed the larger (and therefore less fuel efficient; economy being the key to May's results) Camry and the Honda Accord, with just 473 fewer sales than the Civic. 

Added to those facts is this: two cars (Civic and Corolla) outsold the Ford F-150 by about 10,000 units. It'sa small surprise that the F-150 continued to tumble; a somewhat more substantial surprise that it was the Civic and Corolla - not the Accord and Camry - that took control with gasoline near an average of $4.00/gallon.

What's more, American brands as a whole struggled mightily. Compared with May of 2007, Chrysler LLC was down some 50,000 total sales. Buick; Cadillac; Chevrolet; GMC; Hummer; Pontiac; Saab; and Saturn - down. Ford and its two other American brands, as well as Volvo, posted declining sales.

The good news resides at Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Nissan, and Subaru. That's four Japanese companies, two Korean, one German, and two British. Continue to check back at GoodCarBadCar.net for more specific results from this significant month.

AMERICAN VEHICULAR SALES - 1/3rd of 2008 - Part 2

One of the uglier small cars has made a jump into the top ten best-selling vehicles. A large pickup has dropped out of the top five and seems to be trending toward a drop out of the top ten. What's going on? Fuel prices, environmental conscience, and the disappearance of the American middle class; to name just three reasons for a move away from more expensive-to-run trucks and into more economical cars. 

Part 1 of this look at the first third of 2008's American vehicular sales explains a little bit more about January-April's top five sellers. Yesterday, The Good Car Guy explained the Camry's overtaking of the Chevrolet Silverado more thoroughly. Here are more Numbers you need to know.

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2 - total months of full production in 2008 for the new Corolla & Matrix bodystyles as of April, reflected by a 17.3% sales decline for the first four months of the year

2,635 - total Nissan Altima Hybrid sales for the January-April of '08, double the figures for the same period of last year

99,037 - total Nissan Altima sales in the first four months of 2008, a 9.6% increase compared with the same period of 2007

8 - rank of the Chevrolet Impala in U.S. auto sales, although the Impala is one of just two cars in the top ten that generated fewer sales in the first third of this year than the first third of last year

18 - best possible city fuel economy for the Impala, as rated by the EPA, making the large front-wheel driver the only car on this list with no model capable of achieving better than 20mpg in the city

48,540 - difference in sales between the Impala's best selling competitor, the Toyota Camry, and the Impala in the first third of 2008

24.2- percentage decline in sales of the Dodge Ram during the first four months of 2008

279,204 - pace on which the Dodge Ram is prediceted to sell in 2008, based on the first four months of 2008, absent of any downward trending month-after-month

29.1 - percentage increase in sales of the Ford Focus during the first third of 2008 compared with the first third of 2007

4 - positions gained by the Focus in the best sellers list in early 2008, moving from 14th to 10th

38,775 - difference in total sales between the Focus' best-selling competitor, the Honda Civic, and the Focus in the first third of 2008