Best Selling Cars and Trucks for October 2018

A generally down month, but a few surprises

By Aaron Miller Nov 9, 2018

2018 Honda CR-V Honda
October was a month in which manufacturers struggled to move their most popular vehicles at the same prodigious clip as they have been. Fully six of the month’s 10 best sellers actually saw losses compared to October 2017. While part of last year’s total was related to vehicle replacement following Hurricane Harvey, it also represents the wider trend of trailing sedan sales, with Accord, Civic and Corolla all posting losses greater than 10 percent compared to last year.

While pickups from Ford and Ram continue to run away with the sales title, there was a shakeup near the top of the crossover charts, with Honda’s CR-V edging out the Nissan Rogue—albeit by just 77 units—as the battle for second behind the Toyota RAV4 heats up heading into the final quarter of the year.

Here are the top 20 selling vehicles for October 2018:

Ford
1. Ford F-Series: 70,438 sold in October 2018; down 7.3% from last year.
Key Takeaway: After nearly a year and a half of consecutive gains, the undisputed sales leader has now posted losses in consecutive months. It remains up by just over 2% over this time last year, however.

FCA
2. Ram Pickup: 49,136; up 11.3%
Key Takeaway: Ram is accelerating into the final part of the year, and after edging out the Chevrolet Silverado for the second spot overall last month, it’s now ahead of last year’s sales pace.
*Note: General Motors now reports sales on a quarterly basis, so Silverado numbers are not reflected this month.

Toyota
3. Toyota RAV4: 34,004; down 0.2%
Key Takeaway: RAV4’s numbers more or less held serve compared to last October, as dealerships look to clear inventory ahead of the completely redesigned 2019 RAV4. With 353,149 RAV4s sold thus far in 2018—over 25,000 more than Nissan Rogue’s 337,727—it remains on pace to retain its crown of Best of the Rest behind the Big Three Pickup Trucks.

Honda
4 Honda CR-V: 27,825, up 0.1%
Key Takeaway: As with its Toyota rival, CR-V’s October sales were largely comparable to a year ago. While its year-to-date numbers are slightly down from last year, it remains on pace to be the third-best-selling crossover behind Rogue.

Nissan
5. Nissan Rogue: 27,748, down 8.4%
Key Takeaway: Rogue’s sales drop is a bit of an outlier in the crossover segment, but within the larger picture of Nissan it’s part of a generally down month for the manufacturer, which saw the Altima fall nearly 25%, Armada drop over 40% and Maxima over 60% from a year ago. It’s not all doom and gloom, though: Rogue is up 3.2% over this time last year for year-to-date sales: stronger gains than both RAV4 and CR-V.

The Rest of the Top 20

6: Toyota Camry: 26,914; up 2.5%
7: Honda Accord: 23,778; down 11.1%
8. Honda Civic: 22,450; down 26%
9: Toyota Corolla: 22,020; down 10.7%
10: Ford Explorer: 19,035; up 12.5%
11. Toyota Highlander: 20,548; up 17.7%
12. Toyota Tacoma: 20,534; up 29.9%
13. Ford Escape: 20,515; down 11.1%
14. Jeep Grand Cherokee: 19,109; up 11%
15: Jeep Cherokee: 18,598; up 15.2%
16. Hyundai Elantra: 18,312; up 24.3%
17. Tesla Model 3: 17,750; YoY change not valid
18. Nissan Sentra: 17,611; down 4%
19. Subaru Forester: 15,981; up 19%
20. Ford Fusion: 15,932; down 9.2%

Manufacturer sales information can be found here:
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, Honda; Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota

TAGSfordramtoyotajeephondaf-150rav4teslanissanroguebest sellers

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Aaron Miller

As a veteran automotive journalist, I have been fortunate enough to drive some of the most desirable cars on the planet and get to know some of the most important people in the industry. Before joining Capital One, I served as the Cars Editor for a major national website, and covered industry news and analysis for well-known automotive-specific sites. I also wrote feature articles and reviews for niche enthusiast websites. I’ve been obsessed with cars since—literally—before I can remember, with my collection of die-cast and slot cars taking center stage during my formative years. Simply put, for me, working isn’t really “work.”