Substantial increases from Chrysler, Nissan and Hyundai-Kia helped the industry to an 8 percent rise for October, compared to the same period a year ago. Charlotte Mitsubishi Dealerships said that total sales of 1,021,185 light vehicles last month bring the annualized figure to 13.3 million units, Automotive News reports.
Automotive News quoted Jesse Toprak of TrueCar.com as saying the industry’s recovery is a healthy one because automakers haven’t relied on incentives to drive sales.
According to Hyundai Dealers MD, while several automakers posted double-digit gains – Volkswagen up 40 percent, Daimler up 26 percent, Volvo up 23 percent BMW up 17 percent, Chrysler up 27 percent, Hyundai up 22 percent and Nissan up 18 percent – Toyota and Honda slipped while struggling to regain their footing since the March earthquake and tsunami, and now hampered by flooding in Thailand. According to Hialeah Freightliner, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Porsche all lost from 12 to 14 percent, while GM gained 2 percent and Ford was up 6.