Was the Nissan Rogue Truly America's Best-Selling SUV/Crossover* in June 2017? We'll Never Know

Nissan reported 34,349 U.S. sales of the Rogue in June 2017, a 17-percent year-over-year increase that drove the Rogue to its third monthly victory in America’s SUV/crossover sales race this year.

But June was the first time since March in which the Rogue — sales of which have now increased in eight consecutive months — topped the utility vehicle segment.

What propelled the Nissan back into the top spot after a two-month hiatus?

Another Rogue. Mysteriously missing from Nissan’s June sales report, despite six weeks of sales activity, was the Nissan Rogue Sport, known in other markets as the Nissan Qashqai.

Disappointingly, for the purposes of U.S. sales reports, Nissan is combining sales of the Rogue and new Rogue Sport. Thus, we’re left to wonder whether the Rogue, on its own, was America’s best-selling SUV/crossover in June or if the Rogue requires an asterisk alongside its position in the victor’s column.

Hopefully public pressure means we won’t have to wait for long. Yet for the time being, Nissan’s mind seems to be made up.

“Rogue and Rogue Sport are reported under the Rogue nameplate and we don’t break those numbers out respectively,” Nissan senior manager for corporate communications, Josh Clifton, told TTAC this morning.

It’s not terribly surprising to see Nissan make this decision against sales transparency, as this sort of methodology isn’t uncommon. Indeed, Nissan says it’s “consistent with industry and Nissan practice.”

Ford, GM, and Ram throw all their full-size truck sales into one pot under banners such as “F-Series.”

Mercedes-Benz’s monthly sales report includes the Sprinter and Metris under the Vans header.

Hyundai links the Santa Fe Sport and Santa Fe.

BMW used to join the 3 Series and 4 Series, although that seemed sensible given the fact that those cars used to operate solely as the 3 Series.

Nissan isn’t entirely lacking justification, either. The Rogue and Rogue Sport aren’t wholly dissimilar. Both ride on Nissan’s CMF platform and the Rogue Sport does look an awful lot like a Rogue that stayed in the dryer for a few extra minutes.

Though similar in appearance, Nissan doesn’t expect the Rogue Sport to cannibalize Rogue sales. “We expect the Rogue Sport to deliver incremental gains, as buyers should be different than traditional Rogue shoppers,” Clifton says.

Nevertheless, greater transparency would have lent greater credence to Nissan’s sales victory if, in fact, the Rogue does end 2017 as America’s top-selling utility vehicle, breaking Honda’s five-year CR-V streak. Not since 2005, when the Chevrolet TrailBlazer claimed the crown, has anything other than a Honda or Ford been America’s most popular utility vehicle.

Through the first six months of 2017, Nissan has reported 195,689 total Rogue sales, 8,433 more sales than the Honda CR-V has produced. It doesn’t hurt that the Rogue is a daily rental fleet favorite, but even with Nissan’s appetite for fleet sales, there’s no denying the Rogue’s retail popularity. Even if 20 percent of Rogues don’t end up with individual buyers, the Rogue would still rank amongst the five best-selling utility vehicles in America.

But of the 34,349 Rogues sold in America in 2017, how many were actually Rogues,, rather than Rogue Sports?

Based on Canadian trends, which don’t necessarily reflect real U.S. outcomes, we would guess around 15 percent of the Rogues sold in the U.S. in June were actually Rogue Sports. Nissan Canada reported 814 Qashqai sales in June to go along with 4,450 Rogues. That ratio would translate to roughly 5,300 Rogue Sports and 29,000 Rogues in June, dropping the Rogue from top spot among SUVs/crossovers to third, well behind the Toyota RAV4 and slightly back of the Chevrolet Equinox. Maybe. Perhaps.

In Canada, the Rogue was the third-best-selling utility vehicle in June 2017. Had Nissan Canada chosen to combine the Rogue and Qashqai, however, the Rogue would have, as it did in the U.S., shot up to the top spot.

Nissan would not confirm the accuracy of this ratio in the U.S.

[Images: Nissan]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.