Top 10 Fastest/Slowest Selling New Cars — July

What are the top 10 best selling cars, the most desirable? What are the slowest selling models? Knowing how various cars are selling is one of your best tools for negotiating with the dealer. After all, if the dealer knows a model is desirable and will get sold in a week, he can charge close to sticker.

This "Days on Lot" information will give you an edge before you even set foot on the lot. Days on Lot measures the average number of days a model sits on a dealer's lot before it is sold. This is one predictor of a dealer's willingness to negotiate.

The first step is to study the Top Ten Fastest/Slowest Selling lists:

Analysis: As usual, the top selling cars for July are from the new model year. The Honda Odyssey and Audi Q5 are new for July. The Lexus IS 250C and RX 450H arrived in June. The Toyota Prius has been out since May and continues to fly off the lot – possibly a result of the Cash for Clunkers program that started at the end of July. We’ll see how that program affects our August Top 10 list.

Negotiation Tip: If you are interested in a car on the Top 10 Fastest Selling list, you're probably not going to pay much below MSRP. We believe most of these cars will continue to be popular for quite a while, so factor that into your buying strategy.

But there is one trick you can use to lock in a good deal—Internet pricing. You see, customers who lock in a price quote ahead of time using the Internet tend to get much better prices. That’s because the Internet Sales Manager knows you’ve gotten multiple Internet bids and done your homework. Click on the Get a Quote button to the right to have a dealer email you a competitive price quote.
Analysis: The Slowest Selling list is where you’ll find the bargains. Not surprisingly, the entire list is composed of 2009 cars, vehicles at the end of the model year. Last month Chrysler models made up the majority of the slow sellers. But it looks like Chrysler dealers have been aggressively discounting these older 2009s. This month Chevy is the big "winner" with their Aveo, Cobalt coupe, HHR and the Colorado truck in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 8th spots. With models that have been sitting on the lot for 7 months, we expect Chevy dealers to be aggressive in their deal making. The Mazda3 may seem a surprise for this list, but like the Honda Pilot, Mazda has a 2010 model that is stealing focus on the lots.

Negotiation Tip: If you are interested in a car on the Top 10 Slow Sellers list, you’re in luck. You should be able to get this car at something close to invoice – or better. But the trick is to lock in the price you want now, before going to the dealership. The dealership’s Internet Sales Manager can send you a price by email and he will be more than ready to deal. Just go to the Ready To Buy box on the right, select the make and model you're interested in, and click on Get a Quote.