An astounding 700,000 cars were stolen in the U.S. last year.

While that’s actually a decrease of 3.3 percent, at the same time the number of newer vehicles being stolen (cars from ’09-’11) is increasing, at least according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Intuitively you would think newer cars would be more difficult to jack, but apparently not! Which really should emphasize a car owner’s need for aftermarket security.

The top most-stolen new vehicles from the new survey were:

1) The 2009 Nissan Altima

2) The 2009 Honda Accord

3) The 2009 Honda Civic

4) The 2009 Dodge Charger, and

5) (Motorcycle alert!) the 2009 Yamaha YZF-R6

See the list of newer cars from MSN Autos here.