(December 2, 2015) There were winners and losers on the November sales charts, but overall November sales are projected to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate above 18 million. The strong November results will help push the industry closer to topping the U.S. sales peak of 17.4 million, set in 2000.

Hyundai set the pace in November as most automakers rode U.S. light truck demand to sales increases and the industry moved closer to an annual record. Hyundai generated sales of 60,007 vehicles, up 12 percent, for its best-ever November. Kia sales nudged upward 1.4 percent to 45,553.

Gains among major players fell within a narrow range of 0.3 percent at Ford to 3.8 percent at Nissan. Hyundai’s 12 percent increase stood out in percentage terms. Only American Honda and Volkswagen Group posted a decline in volume.

Still, overall industry volume topped expectations for a flat or slight rise in volume, according to several analysts.

GM estimated a SAAR of 18.2 million while Ford projected a November sales rate above 18 million. Fiat Chrysler pegged the November light-vehicle SAAR at 18 million when 400,000 medium- and heavy-duty trucks are stripped out of the company’s 18.4 million forecast.

If the forecasts hold, it would mark the first time that the SAAR has topped 18 million units three consecutive months.

"The auto industry is on-track to exceed 2015 expectations," said Bill Fay, group vice president and general manager for the Toyota division. Through October, deliveries across the industry rose 5.8 percent to 14.5 million, spurred by rising incentives, record leasing rates, pent-up demand, and favorable financing and credit availability.

Nissan rode strong demand for the Rogue crossover to a 3.8 percent increase. At Toyota, volume rose 3.4 percent. FCA extended its streak of monthly advances to 68 with a 3 percent rise. GM was up 1.5 percent, while Ford eked out a 0.3 percent gain.

Volkswagen, citing a stop-sale order on 2.0-liter and 3.0-liter diesel models pending a review by U.S. and California regulators for emissions compliance, said November deliveries dropped 25 percent to 23,882. It is the steepest monthly decline for the VW brand since the start of the Great Recession.

Honda fell 5.2 percent to 115,441 vehicles with Acura plunging 18 percent to 12,244 deliveries. Sales at the Honda brand slipped 3.5 percent.

The increases for major automakers come in comparison to a strong November 2014 that also had two more selling days than last month.

At Fiat Chrysler, deliveries rose 20 percent at Jeep and 0.6 percent at Ram. Jeep sales increased to 68,909, the brand's best U.S. November on record and its 26th-consecutive month of year over year gains. But sales dropped 7.5 percent at Dodge, 12 percent at the Chrysler brand and 2.6 percent at Fiat. Overall, FCA’s truck volume rose 11 percent while car sales slid 22 percent.

FCA’s incentives averaged $3,573 last month, an increase of 13 percent over November 2014, TrueCar estimated.

At General Motors, a 4.8 percent rise at Chevrolet offset a 17 percent drop at Buick and the first decline at GMC in a year. Cadillac was up 1.8 percent.

GM’s said its average transaction price hit a record $35,800 last month, up about $740 from October 2015 and an increase of about $580 year over year. The company's incentive spending was 10 percent of ATP, down 1.6 percentage points from October 2015 and down 1.2 percentage points year over year.

Deliveries rose 0.4 percent at the Ford division but slipped 2.4 percent at Lincoln. Ford said lower incentive spending prompted a $3,800 boost in average transaction prices compared with a year ago.

“We saw strong customer demand for our cars and SUVs with the latest technology and sold a very rich mix in November,” Mark LaNeve, Ford's head of U.S. sales and service, said in a statement. “F-Series and commercial vans also were very strong, with an 18 percent gain for the month and our best November sales performance for Ford Trucks in eight years."

Among other automakers, sales rose 7 percent at Mazda, 1.8 percent at Subaru and 3.6 percent at Mitsubishi. At Mini, deliveries slid 11 percent.

Among luxury brands, volume rose 3.2 percent at BMW, 91 percent at Volvo, 79 percent at Land Rover, 0.4 percent at Audi and 6.8 percent at Lexus. But deliveries slipped 5.3 percent at Porsche, 15 percent at Jaguar and 18 percent at Acura.

Sources: Automotive News, auto manufacturers