Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: June 2010

As we near the dog days of summer, the general malaise of the summer months seems to be taking its toll on car sales earlier than usual.

Many large automakers saw only incremental sales gains in June, with Ford up 13.3%, GM up 10.7%, Toyota up 6.8% and Honda only up 6.2%.

Despite the lull, some automakers managed to outperform. Beleaguered Chrysler saw a 35% sales boost in year-over-year sales; to be fair, the automaker was just exiting bankruptcy this time last year, making any comparisons between the two months extremely misleading. Korean automaker Hyundai also continues its sales gains, up 35%.

Significant changes on June’s top 10 include the Nissan Altima falling off the list and the Honda CR-V making the top 10. It’s the first crossover represented on the top 10 since April.

Find out which cars came out on top below. If you want to follow our breaking sales coverage every month, follow us on Twitter @kickingtires.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars June 2010

• Ford F-Series: 46,502
• Chevrolet Silverado: 30,994
• Toyota Camry: 28,435
• Honda Accord: 26,792 (includes 1,848 Accord Crosstours)
• Honda Civic: 26,474 (includes hybrid)
• Toyota Corolla: 21,876 (includes Matrix)
• Chevrolet Malibu: 20,720
• Ford Fusion: 18,412
• Hyundai Sonata: 17,771
• Honda CR-V: 16,041

Toyota Corolla, Scion xB Earn IIHS Top Safety Pick Status

Perhaps the most sought-after safety accolade in the automotive industry is scoring a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The agency recently added a roof-strength test for cars to be eligible for the award, making it an even tougher accomplishment. When the institute added the new guidelines late last year, no Toyotas made its initial list of Top Safety Picks.

Today, the IIHS announced that the 2010 Toyota Corolla and 2010 Scion xB both earned the top score of Good in the roof-strength test and are again Top Safety Picks. The 2009 models of both cars were past winners under the old guidelines. Of the four other Toyota models tested for roof strength, only the Camry earned a top rating of Good. The RAV4 and Yaris earned a rating of Acceptable, and the Tacoma earned a Marginal rating. No other Lexus or Scion models have been tested for roof strength yet.

The 2010 Corolla is included in both recalls for floormats and sticky accelerator pedals and is being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over complaints of it its steering. The Scion xB is not included in the two recalls.

The IIHS adds that "Recalls happen all the time, and they happen to Top Safety Pick vehicles as well. They just don’t usually attract the level of media attention as the Toyota problems have. The award for the Corolla only applies to vehicles fixed under any recalls — such as those related to the unintended acceleration issue."

2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid Not Recalled, Still On Sale

The Toyota Camry Hybrid is not included in the current recall of 2.3 million Toyotas, including the gasoline-powered Camry. That means Toyota dealers are allowed to sell the 2010 Camry Hybrid on lots right now. However, the Camry Hybrid is part of an earlier recall of 3.8 million Toyota vehicles over floormats that can become trapped under the accelerator.

Toyota Recalls 2.3 Million Vehicles Over Sticking Accelerator Pedal

A new recall announced today by Toyota includes approximately 2.3 million Toyota cars, trucks and SUVs. No Lexus or Scion models are included. The recall is to fix accelerator pedals that become stuck and lead to severe accidents. This recall is separate from the 4.2 million vehicles recalled over floormats trapping the accelerator pedal. Toyota says 1.7 million vehicles are included in both recalls.

Below is Toyota’s explanation as well as the models affected.

2009 Toyota Corolla: Love/Hate

I’m not going to lie — I wasn’t exactly looking forward to my weekend with the 2009 Toyota Corolla. I’ve driven a series of vanilla four-door sedans since May, and it’s gotten a little boring. There was nothing inherently wrong with any of the cars, but “responsible” isn’t usually how you’d describe your summer dream car. Fortunately, I was spared total boredom when I discovered the Corolla I’d be driving was the sportier XRS version.

Loved: Sporty handling
Although the Corolla XRS isn’t going to win any land-speed records or anything, I was pleasantly surprised with its zip. With some of the other economy cars I’ve driven this summer, merging onto the expressways required stomping the gas pedal into the floor and crossing my fingers. The Corolla needed far less coaxing to ease into high-speed traffic. Changing lanes on the crowded Chicago-area interstates can even be a pleasant experience in a car that moves without hesitation, like the XRS did.

Toyota Offering Five-Year Leases to Comply With Cash for Clunkers

Part of the small print in the Cash for Clunkers legislation is that it can only be applied to leases with terms of at least five years. Most lease deals are for much shorter terms — two to three years — because the allure of a lease is that you get out of a car and into a new one quickly.

Toyota is one of the few automakers we’ve heard of that will offer five-year leases, created just for the program. The 60-month leases are available for the Yaris, Corolla, Camry, RAV4 and Tacoma. One sample offer for a Yaris lease lists a headline-grabbing monthly payment of $79 per month for 60 months. The money you’d have to pay up front is $5,229, but if you deduct the $4,500 Cash for Clunkers credit, you’d end up paying $729 up front.

How much would it cost you to buy a Yaris in the same scenario and own it outright at the end of the term? Financed at 2.9% for 60 months, with that same down payment, it would be $125.03 a month, not including tax or destination.

The lease also allows you to drive only 12,000 miles a year. Offers vary by region.

2009|Toyota|Yaris

2009|Toyota|Corolla

2009|Toyota|RAV4

2009|Toyota|Camry

2010 Toyota Corolla, Matrix Get Standard Stability Control

The 2010 Toyota Corolla and Matrix will start arriving at dealerships in late February with some newly added safety features.

The Corolla and Matrix — which share a common platform and powertrains — now come standard with electronic stability control and traction control in all trim levels.

By 2012, the government will requiring all vehicles to feature stability control; apparently, Toyota is getting a head start on completing this task.

Does this affect the price? On the Corolla, no; prices will remain the same, with a starting price of $15,350 (plus a $720 destination charge).

The Matrix will cost $16,550, which is a $260 increase from the 2009 model year. If you don’t recall the specifics of electronic stability control or traction control, you can get caught up on them here.

Related
Toyota Corolla News
Toyota Matrix News

Best Cash-Back Finds: 1.23.09

Chrysler’s new round of incentives go into effect Monday — meaning, don’t buy a Chrysler this weekend — but nearly every other company also has healthy incentives out right now. Ford’s employee pricing sale has been extended until Feb. 2, in case you win betting on the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.

Here are a few deals on Cars.com-recommended cars that are impressive — especially $1,500 cash back on a new 2009 Toyota Corolla. All were found in the Chicago area and end Feb. 2. Remember to double-check deals in your area on our incentives page and via automakers’ websites before heading to a dealership.

Mileage Challenge 3.4: Fuel Economy Value

The fuel economy results of our mileage drive are in, and by now you’ve already read which cars we tested, the mileage they achieved and our impressions of each compact car. It’s using those real-world results that we’ve calculated which of these frugal commuters offers the best fuel economy value, based on each car’s as-tested price compared to the mileage it returned.

The calculation was simple: To pinpoint a value based on fuel economy, we merely divided the MSRP by how many miles per gallon the car returned during our testing. Now, let us mention that you can always get a bare-bones, stripped version of car, improving its fuel economy value, but the following results are a reflection of the specific trim levels we tested, which mostly included niceties that made the drive easier.

Mileage Challenge 3.3: Driving Impressions

This week, we reported the results of our latest mileage challenge, a 300-mile highway trip in four high-mileage commuter cars. Our convoy averaged a respectable 33.8 mpg. The Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic achieved the highest numbers, with the Pontiac G5 and Ford Focus coming in a few ticks worse. Three editors and an editor in chief logged considerable time in each, and we cobbled together some impressions and off-the-cuff rankings for the group.

Read on for our thoughts.