That’s right, folks. The recently-launched Chevrolet Cruze sold 25,160 copies in April, making it the second most-popular vehicle in the U.S. compact segment. The segment crown, however, still went to the Honda Civic — which managed to move a total of 26,898 units, or 1,738 more than the Cruze.
Selling 24,215 units, Toyota’s Corolla followed closely in third place, with the Hyundai Elantra, Volkswagen Rabbit/Golf/Jetta family, and Ford Focus taking fourth, fifth, and sixth place, respectively.
The Cruze has been steadily increasing its market share since its launch at the end of last year. For example, the Delta II-based sedan accounted for a measly 9.24 percent of the compact segment in December 2010.
April 2011 - US Compact Segment Sales
MODEL | UNITS | SHARE |
---|---|---|
SEGMENT TOTAL | 174,514 | 100.00% |
HONDA CIVIC | 26,898 | 15.41% |
CHEVROLET CRUZE | 25,160 | 14.42% |
TOYOTA COROLLA | 24,215 | 13.88% |
HYUNDAI ELANTRA | 22,100 | 12.66% |
VW RABBIT/GOLF/JETTA | 20,380 | 11.68% |
FORD FOCUS | 17,267 | 9.89% |
NISSAN SENTRA | 9,367 | 5.37% |
MAZDA3 | 8,584 | 4.92% |
KIA FORTE | 8,535 | 4.89% |
SUBARU IMPREZA | 4,367 | 2.50% |
DODGE CALIBER | 3,967 | 2.27% |
SCION TC | 2,674 | 1.53% |
SUZUKI SX4 | 1,000 | 0.57% |
*Lancer was not included as Mitsubishi does not make sales results available.
Be sure to check out our world-famous By The Numbers series for a model-by-model break-out of The General’s sales results.
Comments
Why’d you leave the Corolla out of the headline? That’s a pretty big deal that a Toyota is not in the top 2 anymore, right? If you ask me, these are pretty damn impressive numbers for a car that is not even 6 months old in the US yet. I would be shocked if the Civic isn’t unseated within the next 12 months. The question is what the average retail price for a Cruze is relative to MSRP, to see how much dealer incentives are feeding the flame.
Corolla is now in the headline — good eye!
You’re absolutely correct in saying that this is a big feat! The new Corolla is about a year away, I believe — and the new Civic won’t change the game at all given what it will bring to the table in a few months. So this is huge.
Imagine if the Cruze also had a Civic Si and/or Subaru WRX competitor (the Focus will with the ST) as well as a hatch (to go after Impreza buyers). then it would surely be at the top already!
Oh, and as far as I know – there are no incentives on the Cruze right now – to the dealer or the buyer.
Is it a big fleet car yet?
While fleet sales for the month were at 33 percent, GM doesn’t break out the fleet models – unfortunately. But given the new strategy that calls for higher average transaction prices, I wouldn’t think many Cruzen went to fleets.
Nice! Imagine if Cruze had a coupe and a sport model. I think that Cruze can be number 1 as long as Chevy wont be lazy with updates.
Exactly! Then it would take over in the AWD and performance segments. Garrrs!
Yes!
GM needs to keep the Cruze fresh with updates and improvments as the competition releases there new generation products, this is were we have droped the ball in the past with Saturn and other GM products, let’s learn from the past and keep currant to stay relevent, remember in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when 1 in every 5 cars on the road was a Chevrolet. Chevrolet said, “Keeping the consumer first keeps us number one” USA-1 Chevrolet That is simpliy what must be done, the US bulilt 1.4 Ecco the US built Sonic, now just keep these cars on top, if gasoline prices drop add high performance varients to maintain interest and market share, do’nt just abandon the segment.