July 2012 Car Sales: The Best-Selling (And Worst-Selling) Vehicles

July, it seems, was an odd month for car sales. While some manufacturers (like Chrysler) posted serious gains over last July, other automakers (like GM and, surprisingly, Ford) posted a downturn in sales compared to last year.

There are no real surprises in this month’s Winners column, as both trucks and fuel-efficient cars continue to be popular among buyers. We’ve mixed things up for the Losers column this month, as we’re only reporting on models available in the 2012 model year; in other words, we’re avoiding stock sell-downs of outdated models.

The best selling vehicle in America last month was the Ford F-Series pickup, which sold 49,314 copies. Splitting the domestic pickup trucks was the Toyota Camry sedan, with sales of 29,913 units, which puts the Chevrolet Silverado pickup in third place, with sales of 28,972 examples.

Midsize sedans grabbed fourth and fifth place, with the Honda Accord (28,639) edging out the Nissan Altima (26,602) in sales. Honda continued its roll with the compact Civic, which landed sixth on the list with sales of 25,004 units.



Chrysler’s Ram pickups were next, selling 23,824 copies for a seventh-place finish. Toyota’s aging Corolla and Matrix (reported together by Toyota) still lured an impressive number of buyers in July, moving 23,640 examples.

Finally, the last two spots on last month’s best-seller list were grabbed by the Ford Fusion sedan, with 23,326 sales and the Ford Escape, which was the only crossover to crack the top ten with sales of 21,572 units.



Luxury manufacturers dominated the list of slowest-selling vehicles in July, with the Lexus LFA supercar again taking top honors as the worst-selling vehicle, with just 3 sales booked. Lexus grabbed the number-two spot as well, with its discontinued-in-2013 HS 250h hybrid moving just 4 examples.

Porsche’s Cayman, due for replacement in the coming months, continued its death spiral with sales of just 14 copies. The much-maligned (but oddly loved in Canada) Mercedes-Benz R Class grabbed the fourth spot on the list, moving a mere 32 examples.



Fifth spot went to the largely unmarketed Mitsubishi i electric car, which managed sales of only 33 units. Mercedes-Benz was back again in sixth spot with its CL Class; combined, it produced sales of just 39 units.

 Acura’s overdue-for-replacement RL sedan sold 40 copies in July, followed by Audi’s flagship sports car, the R8, which found a home with 55 buyers. Keeping with the high-end sports car theme, Mercedes-Benz moved 59 examples of its SLS AMG.



That brings us to the tenth worst-selling car in July, the go-anywhere Mercedes-Benz G Class, of which dealers delivered only 64 copies. Given its laser-beam-narrow focus, we’re not sure how many more G Class SUVs Mercedes-Benz will sell when the new model hits dealerships.

It’s worth noting that the worst-seller list doesn’t include manufacturers like Ferrari, Rolls-Royce or Lamborghini, as they provide only aggregate sales numbers. It’s a safe bet that Ferrari didn’t sell more than 59 FFs last month, but the automaker doesn’t provide that level of detail.