(January 5, 2011) Led by big gains at Chrysler, Kia and Volkswagen, auto sales finished the year on a strong note. December light vehicle volume rose about 9 percent to 1.2 million.

"It's the end of a decent growth year and sets the industry up for a nice trajectory to growth in 2012," said Jesse Toprak, vice president of TrueCar.com, who forecasts 13.8 million sales this year.

Big 2011 winners based on annual sales were Chrysler Group, up 26 percent; Volkswagen Group, up 23 percent; Kia, up 36 percent; and the Hyundai Group (including Kia), up 27 percent.

General Motors and Ford also experienced good years in 2011. Ford was up 10 percent month-over-month for December and was up 9 percent for the year. GM was up 5 percent for December and 13 percent for the year.

The two biggest losers because of the March earthquake in Japan were Honda and Toyota. Neither automaker could completely recover by the end of the year. Honda was down 7 percent in 2011, losing about 76,000 sales. Toyota also finished the year down 7 percent selling nearly 119,000 fewer units than 2010.

Other automakers ending the year on a strong note were Nissan, up 15 percent; Mazda, up 9 percent; Daimler, up an estimated 16 percent; and BMW, up an estimated 15 percent. As of early Thursday morning, the two German luxury car makers had not yet released official numbers. The two are vying for luxury car sales champ in the U.S. for 2011.

The Ford brand was up 17 percent for the year, totaling 2,062,9156 vehicles sold, sealing the brand's first three-point market share gain over three consecutive years since 1970.

“The year finished on a high note, with industry sales momentum strengthening as the year came to a close,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “We saw Ford sales strengthen as well, posting our best December retail sales month since 2005 and closing the year as America’s best-selling brand.”

“GM’s balanced portfolio of fuel-efficient cars, trucks and crossovers helped us make the most of the U.S. economy’s slow but steady recovery in 2011,” said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations. “Importantly, we were able to grow all four of our brands and reestablish Chevrolet as a force to be reckoned with in the passenger car business.  This gives us a very solid foundation to compete in a market that we expect to keep growing.”

December marked Chrysler Group’s 21st-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains and seventh-consecutive month of sales increases of at least 20 percent. The group’s 37 percent December increase was driven in part by strong sales of the Chrysler 300 flagship sedan, Chrysler 200 mid-size sedan, Dodge Charger and Avenger sport sedans, Ram pickup truck, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Wrangler, and Compass.

Kia's remarkable U.S. success was led by its popular crossover utility vehicles and the sub-compact Soul, which topped 100,000 units for the first time. It was Kia's 17th consecutive year of market share gain.

Sources: Automobile manufacturers, Automotive News