Small Car Sales In America - December 2016 & 2016 Year End

Automotive

Considering the declining sales seen elsewhere in America's passenger car market, not to mention the disappearance of some models, it's not reasonable to say that Americans don't want small cars.

Sure, Americans are now buying more SUVs/crossovers than cars. But the decrease felt across the car sector – sales fell 10% outside the compact segment – the 5% drop in sales in the compact sector wasn't so bad. Besides, a fair chunk of the near-120,000 unit drop was caused by the disappearing Dodge Dart. Its death was announced early in the year; production was ended before the year ended. Dart volume dropped by nearly 45,000 units. 

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U.S. Car Sales Rankings By Model - 2016 Year End
U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings By Model - 2016 Year End

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Two other Detroit nameplates – the new Chevrolet Cruze and older Ford Focus – lost a combined 71,000 sales. Throw in the anticipated drop at Volkswagen following the TDI emissions scandal as a cause, as well.

But then try telling Honda, Nissan, and Toyota that Americans won't buy small cars. The trio combined for 959,846 total Civic, Sentra, and Corolla sales, a 6% year-over-year uptick. 

Click Chart To Expand

Subcompact car sales, meanwhile, fell just 3% as Honda Fit supply improved and as the Korean duo pushed harder to deliver Accents and Rios; as Toyota found a measure of success with the Scion iA/Toyota Yaris iA.

Americans are still buying small cars. Millions of them. But it's getting harder for lower-volume nameplates to make hay as consumers flock to crossovers; as remaining small car buyers inevitably veer toward the most popular nameplates.

You can click any model name in the tables below to find historical monthly and yearly U.S. auto sales data. You can also select a make and model at GCBC's Sales Stats page. These tables are sortable, so you can rank small cars of all kinds any which way you like. Mobile users can now thumb across the tables for full-width access. Suggestions on how GCBC should break down segments can be passed on through the Contact page.

Click Column Headers To Sort • January 2017 • November 2016 • December 2015

Compact	Dec. 2016	Dec. 2015	% Change	2016	2015	%  Change
Acura ILX *	1079	1960	-44.9%	14,597	18,531	-21.2%
Buick Verano	1038	2545	-59.2%	30,277	31,886	-5.0%
Chevrolet Cruze	17,324	16,849	2.8%	188,876	226,602	-16.6%
Dodge Dart	1525	5867	-74.0%	43,402	87,908	-50.6%
Ford Focus	10,242	11,005	-6.9%	168,789	202,478	-16.6%
Honda Civic	31,482	32,796	-4.0%	366,927	335,384	9.4%
Hyundai Elantra	19,556	14,242	37.3%	208,319	241,706	-13.8%
Kia Forte	7560	5411	39.7%	103,292	78,919	30.9%
Mazda 3	8102	9838	-17.6%	95,567	107,884	-11.4%
Mitsubishi Lancer	860	1324	-35.0%	14,304	17,691	-19.1%
Nissan Sentra	17,037	19,760	-13.8%	214,709	203,509	5.5%
Subaru Impreza	8064	9148	-11.8%	88,517	100,519	-11.9%
Toyota Corolla	31,209	33,692	-7.4%	378,210	368,431	2.7%
Toyota Corolla Sedan °	29,402	32,447	-9.4%	360,483	363,332	-0.8%
Toyota Corolla iM/Scion iM °	1807	1245	45.1%	17,727	5099	248%
Volkswagen Golf	8968	5715	56.9%	61,687	65,308	-5.5%
Volkswagen Jetta	13,079	14,073	-7.1%	121,107	131,109	-7.6%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Total	177,125	184,225	-3.9%	2,098,580	2,217,865	-5.4%

Subcompact	Dec. 2016	Dec. 2015	% Change	2016	2015	% Change
Chevrolet Sonic	6375	7293	-12.6%	55,255	64,775	-14.7%
Ford Fiesta	3772	3550	6.3%	48,807	64,458	-24.3%
Honda Fit	4425	4197	5.4%	56,630	52,724	7.4%
Hyundai Accent	4159	2718	53.0%	79,766	61,486	29.7%
Kia Rio	1269	997	27.3%	28,700	23,742	20.9%
Mazda 2	---	1	-100%	3	297	-99.0%
Nissan Versa	8918	11,058	-19.4%	132,214	144,528	-8.5%
Toyota Prius C	1644	2861	-42.5%	20,452	38,484	-46.9%
Toyota Yaris	2757	2185	26.2%	38,855	24,384	59.3%
Toyota Yaris °	760	377	102%	10,872	16,779	-35.2%
Toyota Yaris iA/Scion iA °	1997	1808	10.5%	27,983	7605	268%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Total	33,319	34,860	-4.4%	460,682	474,878	-3.0%

City Car	Dec. 2016	Dec. 2015	% Change	2016	2015	% Change
Chevrolet Spark	4257	1384	208%	35,511	32,853	8.1%
Mitsubishi Mirage	1555	1262	23.2%	22,226	21,515	3.3%
Scion iQ	---	2	-100%	6	482	-98.8%
Smart Fortwo	1186	669	77.3%	6211	7484	-17.0%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Total	6998	3317	111%	63,954	62,334	2.6%

Warm Hatches	Dec. 2016	Dec. 2015	% Change	2016	2015	% Change
Fiat 500	1411	1737	-18.8%	15,437	23,980	-35.6%
Hyundai Veloster	2699	2246	20.2%	30,053	24,245	24.0%
Mini Cooper	3804	2823	34.8%	39,239	40,120	-2.2%
Scion tC	102	976	-89.5%	9336	16,459	-43.3%
Volkswagen Beetle	1596	1311	21.7%	15,667	22,667	-30.9%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Total	9612	9093	5.7%	109,732	127,471	-13.9%

Tall Hatchbacks & Subcompact Crossovers	Dec. 2016	Dec. 2015	% Change	2016	2015	% Change
Buick Encore *	7755	6498	19.3%	78,565	67,549	16.3%
Chevrolet Trax *	8007	5323	50.4%	79,016	63,030	25.4%
Fiat 500L	102	310	-67.1%	3118	7585	-58.9%
Fiat 500X *	843	3572	-76.4%	11,712	11,357	3.1%
Honda HR-V *	9034	4737	90.7%	82,041	41,969	95.5%
Kia Soul	12,427	12,159	2.2%	145,768	147,133	-0.9%
Mazda CX-3 *	1646	1663	-1.0%	18,557	6406	190%
Mini Countryman *	853	2148	-60.3%	12,706	16,686	-23.9%
Mini Paceman *	1	38	-97.4%	85	1708	-95.0%
Mitsubishi Outlander Sport *	2500	3356	-25.5%	33,067	36,966	-10.5%
Nissan Cube	---	13	-100%	15	943	-98.4%
Nissan Juke *	1290	1958	-34.1%	19,577	27,121	-27.8%
Scion xB	---	886	-100%	2677	15,223	-82.4%
Scion xD	---	8	-100%	9	794	-98.9%
Subaru XV Crosstrek *	10,229	8090	26.4%	95,677	88,927	7.6%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Total	54,687	50,759	7.7%	582,590	533,397	9.2%

Source: Automakers & ANDC
* vehicle also displayed in another GCBC segment breakdown
GCBC isn't here to break down segments, an impossible task for any group, but to display sales data for the sake of comparison. The more ways sales data can be displayed, the better. This explains why you'll see the Encore and XV Crosstrek are listed with small SUVs, too, and the Acura ILX shown with mainstream cars is also displayed with luxury cars... because readers have wanted it both ways. You can always find the sales results for EVERY vehicle and form your own competitive sets by using the All Vehicle Rankings posts.

RECOMMENDED READING
Small Car Sales In America - January 2017
Small Car Sales In America - November 2016
Small Car Sales In America - December 2015
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America In 2016
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings - December 2016
Midsize Car Sales In America - December & 2016 Year End

Automotive