After discussing which car we thought was most popular in our home town/state I thought it would be interesting to look up which vehicles really won that title. The most recent article I could find was from November 2013, however I also looked at older articles and saw that the rankings really did not change too terribly much from year to year.
According to the 2013 article, which measured popularity by new vehicle sales, the Ford F-series took the top spot in 35 states. The Honda Accord was a distant second in terms of the number of states that it ranked first in with four. The Honda CR-V, the Chevy Silverado, and the Toyota Camry ranked first in two states. The Honda Civic, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, GMC Sierra, Toyota Tacoma, and Toyota Corolla were all the most popular car in a one state. Seven of the eleven most popular vehicles in America according to this study are not made by American companies with Honda, Nissan, and Toyota all making healthy appearances.
It is interesting to note that the most popular vehicle in all but seven states were either a truck or an SUV. Two of the Detroit Three’s large trucks are represented with the Ford F-Series, Chevy Silverado, and the GMC Sierra. Toyota’s Tacoma also makes an appearance in Hawaii.
In taking this popularity ranking a bit further it would be interesting to see what the most popular used car is per state. It would also be interesting to see various companies’ sales across the states. I am sure that certain companies make more money in some states than others and it would be really interesting to see what areas the various companies occupy. We will also have to return to this map in the future to see if the increasing cost of gas turns Americans away from their love of large trucks and SUVs to some smaller vehicle options.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-car-in-every-state-map-2013-11
These rankings are likely new retail sales. So your used car query is good, as fleet sales (ex-rental-cars) comprise a big block, and fewer are SUVs and trucks. I’m sure that various data services provide detail, but likely not for free. (Various groups collect information from the 50-plus state / territory DMVs, a laborious process the output of which for good reason carries a stiff price tage.)
I was not at all surprised to hear that the Ford F-150 took the number one spot as America’s favorite car, but the margin that it holds was even higher than I thought. However, as you pointed out seven out of the top eleven were cars manufactured by foreign cars. Perhaps American auto manufacturers will try again to penetrate into the small vehicle market that foreign producers have managed to place a strangle hold on for so long.