America's 10 Top SUV Sellers In 2016's First Three-Quarters

After 35 consecutive months of year-over-year sales improvements, including an all-time monthly record of 90,545 reported sales in May 2016, Jeep’s streak came to an end in September 2016. Last month, U.S. Jeep volume slid 3 percent because of declines across much of the brand’s lineup.

Yet Jeep continues to sell more SUVs and crossovers than any other automotive brand in America, topping second-ranked Ford by 118,328 sales through the first three-quarters of 2016.

Together, Jeep, Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet, and Honda — the five highest-volume purveyors of SUVs/crossovers in the United States — own 52 percent of America’s utility vehicle market. That leaves less than half the available utility vehicle sales for more than 25 brands to divvy up.

U.S. sales of SUVs and crossovers grew 7 percent in the first nine months of 2016, an improvement of approximately 340,000 sales for an overall industry that’s barely moved the needle forward, adding only 60,000 sales so far this year. Compared with 2015, SUV/crossover market share has grown from 36.2 percent to 38.6 percent. Subtract the increasingly vast utility vehicles from the industry and the U.S. light vehicle market would be off last year’s pace by 3 percent.

At the forefront of these massive improvements is Jeep, one of only two brands operating in America that sells SUVs/crossovers, and nothing else. Jeep sales jumped 12 percent through the first three-quarters of 2016, a hugely successful follow-up to last year’s all-time annual record and nearly twice the rate of growth achieved by the utility vehicle market overall.

Among brands that sell utility vehicles, only Chevrolet, GMC, Acura, Cadillac, and Mini have seen their SUV/crossover volume decline in 2016. Hyundai, Infiniti, and Volvo have experienced the greatest percentage growth (excluding Jaguar, Maserati, and Bentley, none of which had an SUV to a year ago.)

Yet while Hyundai, Infiniti, and Volvo have posted 26 percent, 30 percent, and 63 percent gains, respectively, in 2016, the trio has combined for “only” 62,507 additional sales.

On its own, Jeep volume is up by a fairly astonishing 73,460 units this year despite declines reported by the Cherokee and Wrangler, Jeep’s highest-volume and third-highest volume model.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.