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Winners & Losers of 2008
Source: Leftlanenews
Dec.22.08

The year isn’t quite over yet, but it’s close enough to ring the final bell on the winners and loser of 2008. This year was tumultuous, to say the least, with the industry first struggling through record high gas prices and then a complete collapse of the new car market. But despite the ups and down, auto sales seemed to have leveled out on the whole, with only a few surprises on either list.

We’ll start with the winners. Despite $4 gas, the Ford F-150 retained its top spot on the list – where it has been for the last 27 years — selling almost 474,000 units through the first 11 months of the year. The F-150 was followed by Chevrolet’s full-size pickup, the Silverado, which managed to find a home with 431,000 buyers through November, according to Forbes.

The next three sports were filled by vehicles that reflected that $4 a gallon gas period, the Toyota Camry and the Honda Civic and Accord, respectively.

Not surprisingly, the fuel-efficient Toyota Corolla/Matrix took the number six spot with 328,000 sales, followed by Nissan’s Altima with just over 250,000 sales. The Chevy Impala, Dodge Ram and Ford Focus rounded out the top 10.

This year’s biggest loser was the Hyundai Entourage, which found only 5,400 buyers – a 67 percent drop from the same period last year. The relatively unknown Mitsubishi Endeavor wound up in only 5,700 driveways, while the fuel-chugging Hummer H2 managed to find 5,721 buyers.

Chrysler’s lame duck Pacifica took home the title of the 4th worst-selling car of 2008 – with 6,200 sales – followed by the Nissan Armada, Hummer H3 and Dodge Durango. The GMC Envoy, Jeep Commander and Toyota FJ Cruiser rounded out the best of the worst for 2008.