Surprisingly, the 2017 Camry Sedan Is Still Top Selling Vehicle At Toyota

Toyota is one of the few automakers that still has robust car sales due to Camry's success, not slow crossover sales.

The March sales results for each automaker (except Tesla) have now started to flow in and Toyota stands apart from most automakers in one key way. Its midsize sedan is still its top-selling vehicle. For most automakers crossovers are taking over in sales.

Toyota sold 35,648 new Camry midsize sedans in March. That edges out its RAV4 sales, which were 32,027. Toyota's crossover sales have been robust. The RAV4 remains in the top three models in America and the midsize Highlander also sells near the top of its crossover segment. What is unusual for Toyota, is that its Camry seems to have been spared the parasitic sales declines that many automakers have seen.

Take Nissan. Its exciting new Rogue is selling at the very top of the segment and its 39,500 in March sales are outstanding by any measure. However, a quick glance at the Nissan sales charts shows big declines in its Altima midsize sedan. The Versa and Sentra are also all down by double digits. The large Maxima had a good March, but its sales are so low now there is little left to lose.

Honda is another similar example. The CR-V is surging to the top spot in sales for Honda passing the Accord and Civic which are both down. This Honda trend has been something our own Parks McCants has followed closely.

Torque News projects that the Toyota sales will take on the same shape as the Honda and Nissan trends with the RAV4 passing all other models. What makes things a bit unusual at Toyota is the strength of the Camry's sales.