It took a long time to get there and for some we aren’t quite where they would like us to be, but the American market recorded the largest sales ever in the industry with 17.47 million vehicles sold.  This is truly a reflection on an improving economy that allows us to earn more money and be able to afford more new vehicles than ever before.  There was so much to be proud of and this increase in sales of six percent over the previous year has many factors involved which allowed for this huge boon to the industry.

Some of the factors that you have to consider are that not only did we earn more money, but the unemployment is down to five percent which is the lowest it’s been in eight years.  The interest rates for real estate remains low and gas prices continue to drop.  All of this means more money in our pockets and a desire to spend it somewhere which for many meant buying a new vehicle instead of looking for a used vehicle this time around.  As the economy continues to make its positive turn upward we expect to enjoy even higher automobile sales over the next couple years in a market that is on the rise.

Brands

In a record breaking year you expect several automakers to break records.  Here is a list of those that achieve greater sales for their brand than ever before with eleven brands topping their previous record numbers.

• Audi – 202,202
• BMW – 346,023
• Jeep – 865,028
• Honda – 1,409,386
• Hyundai – 761,710
• Land Rover – 70,582
• Kia – 625,818
• Mercedes- Benz – 372,977
• Nissan – 1,351,420
• Porsche – 51,756
• Subaru – 582,675

What’s amazing about these numbers is the fact that they were for these brands only, not for the brand with all the sub-brands under it as well, making for seriously awesome results for the year.

Models

Of course you can’t look at the brand success without thinking about the model improvement as well.  For 2015 there were 33 models that have record numbers to make for the best year ever in the US automotive market.  Those model winners were:

• Dodge – Dart, Challenger, Journey
• Ram Pickups
• Jeep – Wrangler, Cherokee, Compass, Patriot
• Nissan – Rogue, Versa, NV, NV200
• Subaru – Forester, WRX, Outback, Crosstrek
• Toyota – Corolla, RAV4, Highlander
• Kia – Forte, Optima
• GMC – Acadia, Terrain
• Honda CR-V
• Acura RDX
• BMW X5
• Buick Encore
• Cadillac SRX
• Chevrolet Traverse
• Ford Escape
• Hyundai Tucson
• Mazda CX-5
• Volkswagen Tiguan

Do any of these names look familiar to you?  They should because as a country we bought more of these than any other models on the market for the 2015 year.

Segments

For 2015 the trend continues as we seem to love the larger vehicles over the sedans of the world.  The trucks, SUVs and crossovers were a 57-43 percent favorite for 2015 which is up four percent over 2014.  The Crossovers accounted for thirty percent of the sales with 17 percent for the small and midsized cars.  The traditional SUV still was strong at seven percent and the pickups accounted for fourteen percent of the overall sales.

This trend toward the crossover continues with the compact and midsized luxury models moving up 19 and 23 percent.  The large SUVs that some think have gone away actually improved 19 percent over the previous year.  It seems everywhere you look in the market the sales was improved to give us a great jump and show that we really do love our cars.  With so much more disposable income there was a twenty percent increase in the sales of muscle/pony cars, which makes sense not only for the income but for the cars that were being offered in this segment.

With so many cars sold last year and already news of a great deal of expansion in the market we can expect to see some new offerings that will make a huge impact on us in the next twelve months.  As the economy goes so do the sales, showing that more jobs is the answer to the problem that the nation faced years ago.  More people are able to work, which means a need for more cars to get where they need to go.  I would guest 2016 will be another banner year for sales and we will have a similar conversation in January of 2017; at least I truly hope so.