10. Chevy Impala: 14M units sold

The numbers are always changing and a new list of the Top 10 best-selling vehicles in history, compiled by 24/7 Wall St. has a new model on top.

There are some surprises on the list, but for the most part it all makes sense. Whether they’ve been in production for a long time or they’re reasonably priced worldwide, the top 10 best-selling cars of all time might not be the most exciting, but are clearly the most popular throughout history.

The Chevrolet Impala is the only GM vehicle on the list and has quite the history since hitting the market 54 years ago. Starting its life as a large two-door performance coupe, the Impala evolved into a versatile sedan. Or as we like to call it, a rental car. Ironically, it isn’t actually offered as a coupe anymore, which seems like a distant memory after 10 generations of upgrades.

With a recently launched new Camry and Ford unveiling the production version of the new Fusion mid-size sedan at the Detroit Auto Show, Honda previewed its next-generation Accord with a stylish concept coupe. With no dramatic new styling changes, the 9th generation Accord will be the first Honda to receive the brand’s new lineup of powertrains, including direct-injection 4-cylinder and V6 engines as well as CVT transmissions. Plus, the Accord will get an innovative new hybrid system. To learn more about the next-gen Accord, watch AutoGuide’s first look video below.

GALLERY: 2013 Honda Accord Coupe Concept

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No one will accuse Honda of breaking the mold with the new Accord Coupe concept, revealed today at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Then again, consistency is part of the Honda plan and has earned the company an excellent reputation. On hand for the car’s debut, American Honda Motor Co. Executive VP John Mendel pointed out the Accord’s unprecedented 26 times it has been named to Car & Driver’s Top 10 car of the year list.

Looking like a slightly stylized version of the current Accord, the new model is smaller overall and with a lower roofline, although Honda claims it has achieved the same interior space. It’s also a lighter vehicle, although Honda isn’t getting into specifics at this point.

The Accord will be the first model to use Honda’s new powertrains, featuring direct-injection among other technologies. Both a V6 and a new 2.4-liter 4-cylinder will be offered, with a newly developed CVT transmission for the 4-cylinder and a 6-speed automatic for the V6. Honda hasn’t announced specs but says it expects the Accord to deliver class leading fuel economy. Whether it can best the new Fusion’s 26/37-mpg rating will be, however, be tough.

In addition, Honda will offer an Accord plug-in hybrid which will offer three driving modes: electric, gas and gasoline/electric. The system will allow 10 to 15 miles of emissions free driving and let you choose when you want to use that electricity. Honda also promises a charge time of 1.5 hours on a 240 volt charger.

To help deliver improved fuel economy across the range, all Accord models will get Honda’s ECO Assist button.

As for safety, Honda will offer the accord with a lane departure warning system and a collision alert system. Plus, it will offer a unique blind spot monitoring system that will actually show, with video, what is in the car”s blind spot.

Look for the 2013 Accord to go on sale later this year.

GALLERY: 2013 Honda Accord Coupe Concept

Watch AutoGuide’s First Look Video of the new Accord Coupe Concept below:

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Kelly Blue Book Released their list of the 20 most researched vehicles and three of the top five spots belong the Honda products. The Civic and Accord placed first and second respectively, with the Toyota Camry in third, the Honda CR-V in fourth and the Ford F-150 in fifth.

The Hyundai Sonata and Elantra placed sixth and seventh respectively, with the Elantra cracking the top 20 for the first time. The top five brands overall were Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chevrolet and Hyundai, with the Toyota Prius as the sole hybrid on the list. Check out the full list below, after the jump.

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12. Toyota Camry

While automakers and outside research firms publish sales figures and earnings reports on a regular basis, one metric we rarely get a glimpse of is how profitable each vehicle is. In an era of re-badging and platform sharing, one would think that the most profitable vehicles are those with a large number of derivatives to spread the cost around. But a new report from Bernstein Research suggests that two factors – price point and volume – are the keys to making big bucks off vehicles. And judging by the list, longevity seems to help as well.

Number 12 on the list is the Toyota Camry, and for good reason. The Camry has a number of factors in its favor – massive volumes, an accessible price point and its made in America (currency fluctuations, particularly a rise in the euro or yen, can make exports unprofitable). Bernstein’s report notes that high volume cars at a medium price point are one of the keys to profitability, and the Camry might be the textbook definition of this formula. The Camry’s twin, the Lexus ES350, was absent from the list, but no doubt earns its keep, as a gilded version of the Camry.

The first half of 2011 is officially over, and the Ford F-Series and Toyota Camry are still the top selling truck and car in America. While the F-Series has traditionally been the best selling vehicle in America since time immemorial, the Camry has often traded places with the Ford Taurus and Honda Accord, and our sales tally also lumps in sales of the Solara coupe as well, similar to the Corolla and Matrix, which are grouped together for second place in the passenger car standings.

The Chevrolet Silverado and Dodge Ram take second and third place in the truck standings, while the Corolla/Matrix, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion round out the car category.

Other strong performers include the Hyundai Elantra and Sonata and the Volkswagen Jetta. All three are relative newcomers to the top of the sales charts, but have managed to gain significant market share amid recent re-designs.

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

Joe of Norway, Maine has hit a new record in his 1990 Honda Accord: he’s about to reach over one million miles in it over the past 15 years. Enough to send him into orbit around the moon, twice.

That averages to 14,000 miles every three months—usually what people drive in a year. His odometer is at 938,000 miles right now, and is eagerly anticipating its moment of rebirth. Joe, a service technician for 14 years, bought his Accord used in 1996 with approximately 74,000 miles on it. At 300,000 miles he started filling up notebooks with details of service records, and he’s taken over 661 pictures of the odometer at various lofty stages.

“The one thing for me, being a Honda dealer, I kinda hope not everybody does what Joe does because I’d be out of business,” said Ron Russell, the service manager at a Honda dealership in Bangor, Maine.

The uber-Accord is expected to tick over in September. When that happens, maybe Honda will send him a free Accord, or a free t-shirt: “my car made it to one million miles and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!”

When it comes to family sedans and smaller cars and SUVs, for the last two decades, Honda and Toyota ranked as top choices for many Americans. Not any more. It seems that more and more U.S. motorists that once drove Corollas, Civics, Accords and Camrys exclusively are now looking at alternatives.

Although supply of certain Toyotas and Hondas is still proving problematic following the March 11 earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, the decline in both automaker’s fortunes is being blamed on a lot more than just natural disasters.

According to Eric Nobel, of the Orange, California based consulting firm The Car Lab, both Honda and Toyota are losing ground, because their products haven’t been competitive in crucial market segments since the first half of the last decade. He particularly cites Toyota’s slipping quality control and the widespread recalls that have tarnished its reputation among American consumers, as well as Honda’s lack of innovation.

Although the Camry is still currently the best-selling car in America, it’s market share of the mid-size sedan segment has been dropping since 2008. Currently it’s around 9.6 percent, that contrasts sharply with 14.2 percent a couple of years ago.

Toyota’s Corolla and Honda’s Civic and Accord haven’t fared much better. Even Consumer Reports, which once championed these cars as the top of the list when it came to recommended buys, didn’t rate a single one of them as a top pick in it’s most recent findings, instead choosing cars such as the Hyundai Sonata and Nissan Altima over the former ‘favorites.’

Even domestic brands such as Ford and Chevrolet, once dismissed by many, are making a comeback. According to Edmunds.com, some 14.3 percent of people normally shopping for a Civic are looking at the new 2012 Focus as an alternative, while more than 10 percent are considering the Chevy Cruze.

Neverthless, Toyota says that it is “not going to stand still,” according to U.S. spokesman Joe Tetherow and will be “coming back with something significant.” That something will likely comprise a range of new or significantly updated models, including a next generation Camry.

Whether it will be enough to win back customers and turn the tide of flagging sales remains to be seen.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Speaking to its US dealers, American Honda Motor Co has said that they can resume taking orders of smaller, made in Japan offerings such as the Fit subcompact and Insight Hybrid.

The news comes as consumers in the US continue to look for more fuel efficient vehicles as gas prices hover around the $4 per gallon mark. Acorrding to  American Honda’s Executive Vice President John Mendel, the company has “turned the corner,” when it comes fixing supply issues that followed in the wake of the March 11 earthquake in Japan. As a result, he expects production to return to “almost normal levels,” by August.

The news is welcome relief for dealers, whose supply of smaller cars was running desperately low in some cases. Mendel reiterated that dealers still needed to be aggressive on the sales and marketing front to move metal, even if stockpiles are returning to normal levels.

As a result of parts and vehicle shortages, Honda’s sales were down by some 22 percent in May. Although Fit production is back on track, supply of the company’s most popular cars in the US, the Civic and four-cylinder Accord, still remains limited.

[Source: Automotive News]

The May auto industry sales numbers are in and things continue to look down for Honda and Toyota. Both brands saw big drops in their May sales, with Honda down 23 percent and Toyota down 33 percent. While the earthquake and tsunami are to blame for supply issues, it’s hard to ignore the fact that both automakers are losing ground with core products.

According to data compiled by the Examiner, neither of the top two Japanese automakers have a car in the Top 10 best selling cars list for the month. While normally the Civic, Accord, Camry and Corolla all place highly, the best of the bunch for May was the Camry in 12th place with 18,830 units sold. The Civic placed 13th with 18,341 units sold, while the Accord (including the Accord Crosstour) was in 14th with 18,185 units and the Corolla (including the Matrix) sold 16,985 to wind up in 16th spot.

Topping the list was Ford’s F-Series trucks, followed by the Chevy Silverado, while the first car to place is the Chevy Malibu in third, followed by the Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion to round out the top 5. Even domestic compacts did well in May with the Cruze in 8th place and the Focus in 9th.

Year-to-date, Honda and Toyota aren’t doing as poorly with the Camry in 3rd, the Accord in 4th, the Corolla in 5th and the Civic in 8th, but if the May sales numbers for these cars continue, both automakers could look to slip considerably.

[Source: Examiner]