The best- and worst-selling vehicles of 2007

By Bengt Halvorson

updated 4:37 p.m. ET Dec. 20, 2007

The Ford F-150 has quite a track record, and we don't necessarily mean on-the-road performance.

Rather, it's been the country's best-selling pickup for 30 years, and the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for 26 of those.

Yet if you look at recent sales trends, the F-150's days at the top seem numbered — sales of the iconic F-Series, and of the market's other two best-selling full-size pickups, are on the industry's steepest decline. The automaker sold about 4,200 fewer F-Series trucks this October than last. To put it in perspective, that monthly difference alone is more than many luxury car models sell in an entire year.

"The weakness in truck sales isn't going away anytime soon," for reasons that are rooted in the housing slump, says Dana Johnson, vice president and chief economist for Dallas-based Comerica Bank. During a downturn, penny-pinching construction companies stop building their fleets with pickups. What's more, homeowners have a reduced ability to extract equity and make major vehicle purchases.

Then there is the fuel factor. John Teahen, senior editor at Automotive News, agrees that sales of large, gas-guzzling pickups will keep sliding downward, because with sustained high fuel prices, fewer people will be buying them for personal use. This has likely affected sales of other cars on our best-selling list, including the Chevrolet Silverado, which has experienced a 2.4 percent sales decline this year; and the Dodge Ram, a whopping 29.3 percent.

But a rise in gas prices alone doesn't necessarily mean shoppers will postpone a purchase or buy a smaller vehicle, such as the Nissan Altima or the Honda Civic. Instead, says Johnson, they'll be watching their wallets more in the process.

Downward dogs

Winners and losers Top-sellers 1. Ford F-Series 2. Chevrolet Silverado 3. Toyota Camry Complete list Worst-sellers 1. Cadillac XLR 2. Mazda B-Series 3. Isuzu Ascender Complete list

This has spelled bad news for the luxury cars on our list of Worst-Selling Vehicles Of 2007. Those at the bottom — the Cadillac XLR, Porsche Boxster, Jaguar S-Type and X-Type and Audi A8 and S8 — are down significantly from the same period (the first 10 months) of 2006.

Other models that weren't on our list of worst sellers but had sales downturns this year included the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Honda Element, and Volkswagen Passat.

Generally, luxury vehicles sell best when they're "fresh" — either in the first year they're on the market or the first year after they're significantly restyled. And according to Teahen, the "mainstream" luxury vehicles like those on our list are much more susceptible to swings in the market, as opposed to ultra-exclusive "boutique" luxury vehicles, such as Rolls-Royces and Maybachs.

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For instance, the Cadillac XLR, starting at about $80,000, often appeals to a much more limited group of buyers than a $25,000 Chevrolet Malibu, and the crowd that buys vehicles like the XLR is sometimes stretching to make that luxury statement. It, and other brands like it, such as Jaguar and Hummer, Teahen says, fall into the "middle-income splurge" category that's hit harder by economic hiccups.

"At times like this, the car stands as the classic deferrable purchase," says Johnson. "You just make the car last a little longer."

Buyers' market
Johnson, who compiles a quarterly Auto Affordability Index that evaluates consumer spending on new vehicles and the terms of new-car financing, says cars are expected to become more affordable, given the buyers market we're experiencing.

"Right now, there's an environment where car sales are weak," says Johnson. "So there's pressure for incentives and maintaining market share."

Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automotive Dealers Association, says that, with interest rates starting to creep up, it makes sense to consider a lease if affordability is an issue. Recently, several promotional leases were offered by automakers intent on moving the metal.

The best example of this involves the Toyota Prius, the poster child for efficient hybrid powertrain technology. The current generation of the Prius was introduced in 2004. Yet Toyota applied its first incentives — including a bargain lease offer of as low as $249 per month — earlier this year. Sales of the model were higher than they've been before, up by nearly 68% when compared with the first 10 months of last year. The Prius was just a few spots short of making it onto our best-selling vehicles list. Maybe next year.

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