June's Top 10: Chevy Cruze is best-selling car in USA

The March disaster in Japan continued to scramble the list of Top 10 best-selling vehicles in June, leaving Chevrolet's new compact Cruze on top as the bestselling car in the USA -- the spot typically held by Toyota's Camry -- and the No. 3 vehicle overall.

Camry did make the Top 10 -- the only Japanese vehicle to do so -- but as the No. 4 car and 7th overall, with sales down 24.8% from last June. Toyota says production is getting back to normal, so expect Camry to move back up -- boosted this fall by the rollout of the redesigned Camry for 2012. Neither Honda nor Nissan had a vehicle in the Top 10. The top Honda was the Civic at 15th, with sales down 34% vs. last year. The top vehicle for Nissan, which was not hit as hard by the disaster, was the Altima at 11th, with sales up 22.7%.

No. 1 and 2 overall were Ford's F-series and Chevy's Silverado, which had sales gains over last year of 6.7% and 5.1% respectively. They were near the industrywide gain in June of 7.1%.

The two pickups on top, plus the Ram at No. 8, should ease some fears that economy has shifted into reverse. Businesses and tradesmen appear to still be spending.

Behind the Cruze, giving Chevy a 2-3-4 finish on the list was the midsize Malibu, still showing appeal well into its cycle -- the redone 2013 will be on sale in the first quarter of next year, a few months after the new Camry.

Ford's new Focus was the third car and sixth overall, behind the brand's venerable Escape small SUV.

Hyundai's new Elantra was 10th overall and the No. 6 car. The brand continued its sales roll with a 15.6% gain, while corporate sibling Kia was up more than 41%. Taken together (which is how their sales are reported in most of the world) they've passed Nissan as the sixth-largest automaker in U.S. sales.

In order here are the USA's Top 10 best-selling vehicles for June, with their monthly sales and change from June 2010, according to Autodata:

1. Ford F-Series, 49,618, +6.7
2. Chevrolet Silverado, 32,579, +5.1%
3. Chevrolet Cruze, 24,896, new
4. Chevrolet Malibu, 23,737, +14.6%
5. Ford Escape, 22,274, +43.3%
6. Ford Focus, 21,385, +41.2%
7. Toyota Camry, 21,375, -24.8%
8. Ram Pickup, 21,362, +34.7%
9. Ford Fusion, 20,808, 13.0%
10. Hyundai Elantra, 19,992, 40.3% 

usatoday