The Ford F-Series and Toyota Camry were runaway winners of truck and car sales in the U.S. for 2012, the Ford for the 37th consecutive year and the Toyota for the 16th time in 17 years.
The Honda CR-V won back the SUV/crossover sales crown from the Ford Escape, which had displaced the Honda in 2011.
Among minivans, the Dodge Grand Caravan regained the sales title from the Toyota Sienna, which fell to third behind the Honda Odyssey.
In a close finish among American-nameplate full-sized sedans, the Ford Taurus with 74,375 outsold the Chrysler 300 (70,747) and Buick LaCrosse (57,076). The 300 nearly doubled sales last year to overtake the LaCrosse and mount the challenge to the Taurus. Outselling these three by a wide margin is the Chevrolet Impala, a large midsize model, which is expected to become full-sized in 2014.
It was interesting, far down the list among SUVs and crossovers, that the Nissan Juke outsold the Kia Sportage by one unit, 36,358 to 36,357.
In combining all four categories, the top 10 in sales were the Ford F-Series with 645,316, Chevrolet Silverado 418,312, Toyota Camry 404,886, Honda Accord 331,872, Honda Civic 317,909, Nissan Altima 302,934, Ram 293,363, Toyota Corolla/Matrix 290,947, Honda CR-V 281,652 and Ford Escape 261,008.
Total sales of new cars and trucks in the U.S. for 2012 were 14.5 million, a sizable gain over the 12.8 million sold in 2011. Sales totaled 16.2 million five years ago.
Bud Wells can be reached via e-mail at bwells@denverpost.com.
