(November 1, 2011) Chrysler today reported U.S. sales of 114,512, a 27 percent increase compared with sales in October 2010 (90,137 units), and the best October sales since 2007.

Chrysler Group’s 27 percent sales increase was driven by retail sales that were up 40 percent in October. Chrysler has beaten the average industry sales increase in nine of 10 months this year.

Chrysler's gain marked the fifth consecutive increase of 20 percent or more and its 19th straight monthly advance. General Motors was up 2 percent, well below its gains of recent months. Ford advanced 6 percent as reported by monthly sales figures released today.

Although October turned out to be a good sales month, the results trailed some analysts' forecasts, dimming prospects of a seasonally adjusted sales rate of as high as 13.3 million. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate for October is forecast to hit 13.2 million light vehicles, including fleet, up about 9 percent from a year ago, based on a Reuters survey of economists and analysts.

The big winners in addition to Chrysler among the largest manufacturers were the Hyundai Group, up 22 percent month over month and up 26 percent for the year; Nissan, up 18 percent in October and now up 15 percent year over year; Volkswagen, up 36 percent in October and up 22 percent for the year; BMW, up 17 percent for the month and 15 percent for the year; and Daimler up 26 percent in October and 11 percent for the year.

Both Honda and Toyota continued to be off their 2010 numbers, but both showed improvement over previous months since the devastating March earthquake in Japan. Honda was down just 1 percent month over month and has cut its yearly deficit to 5 percent.

Toyota sales were off 8 percent in October and are down 9 percent for the year.

Chrysler cited several reasons for its October sales of 90,137 units, which pushed its 10-month 2011 tally to 910,357.

“In what is turning out to be a strong new vehicle sales industry we continued to outperform,” said Reid Bigland, president and CEO – Dodge Brand and head of U.S. sales. “For October, our retail sales increased 40 percent year-over-year with sales of the Chrysler 300 more than doubling and Jeep Compass sales increasing fivefold."

Models that significantly contributed to the group’s 27 percent increase in total sales were the Chrysler 200 mid-size sedan, Jeep Compass compact SUV and Jeep Liberty mid-size SUV, Dodge Journey crossover, Dodge Avenger mid-size sedan, and the Ram pickup truck.

Continued strong demand for Ford’s fuel-efficient utility vehicles and trucks lifted the company to a 6 percent increase in total sales in October. With total sales of 167,803 vehicles, gains came largely from Ford brand utilities, up 38 percent, and strong truck sales, up 8 percent versus last year.

“More and more consumers are being attracted to Ford’s lineup of fuel-efficient vehicles — from cars and utility vehicles to our full-size pickups with EcoBoost engines,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “The Ford brand continues growing its market share, showing we have the vehicles and technologies people truly want and value.”

At General Motors, Chevrolet vehicles performed well.

“Chevrolet led the way for GM in October driven by the continued success of the Cruze and Equinox,” said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations. “Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC have all performed well this year, which has set the stage for our transition to a higher mix of 2012 model-year vehicles.  Combined with the launches of several new fuel-efficient cars, including the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick LaCrosse eAssist, we are very well positioned going forward.”   

In October, GM’s year-over-year passenger car sales increased 4 percent, crossover sales decreased 1 percent and sales of trucks, which include full-size pickups, vans and SUVs, increased 2 percent.  For the month, 2012 models accounted for 80 percent of passenger car sales and about half of truck and crossover sales.

Highlights for October include double-digit sales increases for the Chevrolet Equinox, Camaro and Express, the Cadillac SRX, the Buick Regal and the GMC Terrain, as well as the continued success of the Chevrolet Cruze. 

Sources: Auto manufacturers, Automotive News