2010 will be forever known as the year after that really bad year. 2009 was a horrible string of days for just about everyone who had two pennies to rub together, but automakers were hit particularly hard.

The only good thing for automakers about such a bad 2009 is that it made every month in 2010 look good in comparison. And so it is that those green bills earned from all those extra car sales is represented by the preponderance of green-shaded cells in our By the Numbers table. Here's the crib sheet of noteworthy news to be gleaned from our wall of numerals below. If you spot more noteworthy items, call them out in the Comments.

  • The four remaining "Core" brands of General Motors sold more in 2010 than the eight brands of Old GM sold in 2009: 2,202,927 to 2,084,492.
  • Ford Motor Company outsold Toyota Motor Company to regain its No. 2 sales position by General Motors.
  • If Hyundai and Kia were counted together in the U.S., their combined sales of 894,496 units would make them the seventh largest automaker in the U.S.. Separately they are the seventh and eighth largest and the largest single-brand automakers in the U.S.
  • Subaru, one of the best performing brands of the past two years, sold more vehicles in 2010 than Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker: 263,820 to 256,830.
  • Buick sales increased the most in 2010 with a 51.89-percent increase, while Smart sales fell the farthest with a 59.39-percent decline.
  • The three best performing brands of 2010 are from General Motors (Buick, Cadillac and GMC)
  • Audi sold over 100,000 vehicles in the U.S. for the first time ever.


Brand/Company Vol. % Volume 2010 Volume 2009 DSR*% DSR% 2010 DSR% 2009
Buick 51.89 155,389 102,306 52.88 508 332
Cadillac 34.68 146,925 109,092 35.56 480 354
GMC 28.95 334,981 259,779 29.79 1,095 843
Porsche 28.55 25,320 19,696 29.39 83 64
Infiniti 27.53 103,411 81,089 28.36 338 263
Acura 26.37 133,606 105,723 27.20 437 343
Jeep 25.65 291,138 231,701 26.47 951 752
Hyundai 23.71 538,228 435,064 24.52 1,759 1,413
Audi 22.86 101,629 82,716 23.67 332 269
Subaru 21.77 263,820 216,652 22.57 862 703
Ford 21.49 1,756,439 1,445,742 22.28 5,740 4,694
Land Rover 21.13 31,864 26,306 21.92 104 85
Volkswagen 20.32 256,830 213,454 21.11 839 693
Kia 18.73 356,268 300,063 19.51 1,164 974
Mercedes-Benz 18.05 225,007 190,604 18.82 735 619
Dodge 17.13 383,675 327,574 17.89 1,254 1,064
Nissan 16.86 805,159 689,014 17.62 2,631 2,237
Chevrolet 16.44 1,565,632 1,344,629 17.20 5,116 4,366
BMW 12.02 220,113 196,502 12.75 719 638
Jaguar 11.59 13,340 11,955 12.31 44 39
Chrysler 11.54 197,446 177,015 12.27 645 575
Mazda 10.49 229,566 207,767 11.21 750 675
Ram 9.14 212,952 195,112 9.86 696 633
Lexus 6.18 229,329 215,975 6.88 749 701
Honda 4.96 1,096,874 1,045,061 5.64 3,585 3,393
Mitsubishi 3.82 55,683 53,636 4.50 182 174
Lincoln 3.60 85,828 82,847 4.28 280 269
Mercury 0.97 93,195 92,299 1.63 305 300
Mini 0.93 45,644 45,225 1.59 149 147
Toyota -1.28 1,534,266 1,554,174 -0.64 5,014 5,046
Volvo -12.19 53,948 61,435 -11.61 176 199
Saab -37.26 5,446 8,680 -36.85 18 28
Suzuki -37.98 23,994 38,689 -37.58 78 126
(Hummer) -57.86 3,812 9,046 -57.58 12 29
Smart -59.39 5,927 14,595 -59.12 19 47
(Saturn) -95.42 12,300 268,686 -95.39 40 872
(Pontiac) -99.34 1,182 178,300 -99.33 4 579
COMPANIES
GM (Core) 21.32 2,202,927 1,815,806 22.11 7,199 5,895
Ford Mo Co 19.41 1,935,462 1,620,888 20.19 6,325 5,263
Jaguar Land Rover 18.15 45,204 38,261 18.92 148 124
Nissan NA 17.98 908,570 770,103 18.75 2,969 2,500
Chrysler Group 16.51 1,085,211 931,402 17.28 3,546 3,024
BMW Group 9.94 265,757 241,727 10.66 868 785
American Honda 6.93 1,230,480 1,150,784 7.62 4,021 3,736
GM 6.27 2,215,227 2,084,492 6.97 7,239 6,768
Toyota Mo Co -0.37 1,763,595 1,770,149 0.28 5,763 5,747
*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 306 selling days in 2010 versus 308 selling days in 2009, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.