Trucks rise, hybrids fall in 2010 ranking

LOS ANGELES — Trucks were hot and hybrids not.

Consumers gravitated toward American trucks and Japanese sedans last year, according to a list of the best-selling vehicles from auto information company Edmunds.com. Hybrid sales fell.

“Large trucks and midsize sedans are staples of the industry. This is what people like,” said Jessica Caldwell, an Edmunds.com analyst.

While in theory people like the concept of spending less on gas and limiting vehicle emissions, “when you have to put your money down, it becomes a different story,” Caldwell said.

Americans purchased 272,282 hybrid vehicles last year, off 6 percent from 2009. They bought more than 1.6 million trucks, a 16 percent increase, according to the Edmunds.com data.

The Ford F-150 pickup truck was the best-selling vehicle in America in 2010. Ford sold 391,219 of the trucks, a 38 percent increase from recession-depressed 2009 and enough to lift the F-150 to the top spot from third place.

Chevrolet’s Silverado 1500 was the second-best-selling truck, trailing the Ford truck by more than 100,000 sales. It ranked third in vehicle sales overall.

The Toyota Camry fell from first place overall in 2009 to second in 2010 but was still the best-selling car. The Camry has held the car sales crown for nine consecutive years.

But the Camry had the distinction of being the only vehicle among the top 10 to see its sales decline from 2009. Camry sales fell 6 percent to 313,212 because of Toyota’s recall problems, including a brief suspension of production in February to fix a problem with sticky gas pedals.

Although two trucks were among the top three sellers, basic sedans remain the bread and butter of the industry.

Besides the Camry, Toyota’s Corolla, Honda’s Accord and Civic and Nissan’s Altima made up half the top-10 list. Together, the five Japanese sedans sold more than 1.3 million vehicles, or more than 11 percent of all U.S. auto sales last year.

It’s not that domestic automakers didn’t have some popular sedans. The Ford Fusion climbed to ninth in 2010, edging No. 10 Chevrolet Malibu by just 38 sales.