I think this sums it up.
November/YTD sales numbers
Ford:.........12/05........YTD
Ranger.........8,434.....120,958
F-Series......89,491....901,463
(memo: Mark LT..1,779...15,873)
Exped...........9,585....114,137
Excursion.......785......16,283
(memo:Navigator..2,664..25,844)
GM...........12/05.......YTD
Colorado/
Canyon......11,150.....163,204
Silverado/
Sierra........90,101.....935,468
Tahoe/
Yukon........21,919.....225,763
Suburban/
Yukon XL.....13,991....140,663
(memo:Escalade..4,331..51,144)
The one battle I haven't seen much press about is this:
Total Ford Branded Sales, YTD:...........2,648,814
Total Chevrolet Branded Sales, YTD:...2,763,238
What a year. In the end, chevy gets bragging right for top selling brand, while Ford retains the largest selling pickup- which also happens to be the largest selling anything.
One of the things that did strike me was that maybe the full-size SUV market was left for dead a bit early. 496,846 customers chose Ford or GM full-size SUV's- roughly the same as bought Accords or Camrys.
A few other things caught my eye:
212,000 Cobalts, 247,000 Impala, and 203,000 Malibus found new homes in '05 (where's that Malibu biz coming from? ). The Impala is the largest selling domestic car for the 2nd year running. On the Blue Oval side, the Taurus continued as Ford's biggestr seller, with 196,000 units. The Focus (184,000) and the Mustang (161,000) were close behind. The 500 captures 102,000 sales- assuming most of those Taurus buyers will switch next year, it could be a heckuva battle with the Impala.
A large % of those went to daily rental fleets and the manufacturer's buyback programs.
Mostly GM-Avis, National
Mostly Ford-Hertz, Budget