The three U.S. largest carmakers, namely General Motors (GM), Ford and Chrysler, on Thursday reported strong vehicles sales in Nov. this year on the U.S. market with Chrysler leading the rise by a 45-percent year-on-year increase.
Chrysler Group LLC reported that it sold 107,172 vehicles in the month, up 45 percent from Nov. 2010, which represents the sixth consecutive month of sales gains and the company's best year-over-year sales gain this year.
The company saw its Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram Truck brand each post sales increases in Nov., among which, the Chrysler brand' s 92 percent sales increase was the largest percentage gain and was its best Nov. since 2008.
"Chrysler trucks and SUVs proved popular this month as winter began to hit the snow belt. The company has a range of relatively new vehicles including Durango and Compass, so there is appeal for many consumers," said Jessica Caldwell, a senior analyst with Edmunds.com, a leading market research company.
Ford reported total sales of 166,865 vehicles in Nov., up from 147,338 a year earlier but down 0.6 percent from October's total. GM's sales also climbed seven percent year on year to 180,402. Ford's truck sales rose 23 percent from a year earlier, while utility vehicle sales increased 29 percent and car sales slid 8.8 percent.
Mewnahile, the combined sales of GM's small and compact cars, led by the new Chevrolet Sonic and consistently strong-selling Chevrolet Cruze, were up 54 percent compared with a year ago. GM' s total passenger car sales increased one percent, crossover sales decreased nine percent and sales of trucks, which include full- size pickups, vans and SUVs, increased 25 percent.
"We are seeing a broad spectrum of customers return to the market," said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations. "Truck sales showed a very solid increase, as we expected, but the momentum building behind our most fuel-efficient vehicles was even stronger."
"Car discounts in November were more flash than cash," a source with Edmunds.com told Xinhua in an email interview.
Besides, the Japanese carmakers saw constant recovery from supply disruption caused by the March Japanese earthquake. Toyota reported a 6.7-percent increase for the month, its first of the year, underpinned by pulling ahead its annual Dec. sales promotion to the beginning of November. Nissan also posted a 19-percent gain in the month, while Honda's sales declined 6.4 percent to 83,925 vehicles.
Autodata Corporation, a major provider of automotive statistical data, estimated that the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of U.S. retail vehicle sales reached 13.63 million units in Nov., the most so far this year.
