Top 40 Best-Selling Vehicles In America In 2004

A quick examination of 2004's 30 best-selling vehicles in America list will reveal that 26.7% of the nameplates were General Motors products. In October 2011 that figure was 20%, for some perspective, and in 2003 the number had been 30%. GM was still selling cars by the boatload, but market share was certainly in decline. General Motors market share in 2002 was 28.6% and fell slightly to 28.3% in 2003. GM market share slid to 27.5% a year later.

G.W. Bush was reelected president, Michael Phelps won eight medals at the Athens Olympics, the National Hockey League season never began, and Honda sold a hatchback Civic in North America. It was 2004, and the U.S. new vehicle market grew by 1.4%. The Ford F-Series alone was up 11.5%, equal to 93,925 more sales than in 2003. This means, you could say, 40% of the market's growth came as a result of the growth of America's best-selling vehicle, a crazy feat indeed. 

Sales of America's best-selling car, the Toyota Camry, were up 3.3% from 2003. The best-selling SUV in the United States was the Ford Explorer but sales fell 9.1% from more than 370K to less than 340K. Trailing the Explorer on the best-selling SUV list were Chevrolet's TrailBlazer and Tahoe, Ford's Escape, the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty, Ford Expedition, Honda CR-V, Dodge Durango, and GMC Envoy. Yep, just the one import among the ten most popular sport-utility vehicles in America. The minivan crown was worn by the Dodge Grand Caravan - its lead over the Toyota Sienna was more than 83,000 units strong.

Embarrassingly, the Buick LeSabre remained a member of the top 40 in 2004. The Chevrolet Cavalier was way up in 16th spot. The Ford Taurus certainly wasn't the most exciting car in America in 2004 but Americans bought nearly a quarter million of of them anyhow.

You can see America's top 40 best-selling vehicles from 2002 here. 2003's list can be scanned here. Start searching for other types of best seller lists here. Below, you'll find America's top 40 best-selling vehicles in 2004.

Rank	Best-Selling Vehicle	2004 Sales	% Change  From 2003
#1	Ford F-Series	939,511	+ 11.5%
#2	Chevrolet Silverado	680,768	- 0.5%
#3	Toyota Camry	426,990	+ 3.3%
#4	Dodge Ram	426,389	- 5.1%
#5	Honda Accord	386,770	- 2.8%
#6	Ford Explorer	339,333	- 9.1%
#7	Honda Civic	309,196	+ 3.2%
#8	Chevrolet Impala	290,259	+ 8.4%
#9	Chevrolet TrailBlazer	283,484	+ 8.5%
#10	Ford Taurus	248,148	- 17.4%
#11	Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan	242,307	+ 3.8%
#12	Toyota Corolla *	238,143	- 7.6%
#13	Nissan Altima	235,889	+ 17.2%
#14	GMC Sierra	213,756	+ 8.7%
#15	Ford Focus	208,339	- 9.2%
#16	Chevrolet Cavalier	195,275	- 23.9%
#17	Chevrolet Tahoe	186,161	- 6.5%
#18	Ford Escape	183,340	+ 9.4%
#19	Jeep Grand Cherokee	182,313	- 12.1%
#20	Chevrolet Malibu	179,806	+ 46.5%
#21	Jeep Liberty	167,376	+ 2.7%
#22	Ford Expedition	159,846	- 12.0%
#23	Toyota Sienna	159,119	+ 50.8%
#24	Ford Ranger	156,322	- 25.2%
#25	Honda Odyssey	154,238	+ 0.1%
#26	Toyota Tacoma	152,932	+ 0.8%
#27	Honda CR-V	149,281	+ 3.7%
#28	Chrysler Town & Country	142,523	+ 18.0%
#29	Dodge Durango	137,148	+ 27.0%
#30	GMC Envoy	134,897	+ 5.6%
#31	Pontiac Grand Am	133,707	- 14.6%
#32	Toyota Highlander	133,077	+ 10.7%
#33	Pontiac Grand Prix	133,551	+ 4.9%
#34	Ford Mustang	129,858	- 7.5%
#35	Honda Pilot	128,158	+ 19.9%
#36	Chevrolet Suburban	119,545	- 11.6%
#37	Chevrolet Colorado	117,475	+ 3223.2%
#38	Chrysler PT Cruiser	115,955	+ 7.6%
#39	Toyota 4Runner	114,212	+ 4.5%
#40	Buick LeSabre	114,157	- 0.4%

Source: ANDC
* Corolla sales figures do not include sales of the Matrix as recent Corolla sales figures do

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