October 2009 U.S. Auto Sales

General Motors U.S. October sales of 177,603 vehicles, was up 4 percent from last October, GM's first year-over-year gain since January 2008. Total sales increased 13 percent when compared with September. Year-to-date GM has sold 1,724,554 vehicles, down 33.8 percent from the first ten months of 2008. The Chevrolet nameplate accounted for 65.5% of GM's October sales and 74.8% of GM's 2009 sales led by the Silverado pickup truck and Impala and Malibu cars.

Toyota Motor Sales reported October sales of 152,165 vehicles, a decrease of 3.5 percent from last October. The Toyota Division posted October sales of 132,663 units, a decrease of 5.8 percent from the same period last year. The Lexus Division reported October sales of 19,502 units, an increase of 15.5 percent over the year-ago month. Year-to-date Toyota sales are 1,448,589, down 25.5 percent from 2008.

Ford, Lincoln and Mercury October U.S. sales totaled 132,483, up 3 percent versus a year ago and 21 percent higher than September. This marks the third time in the last four months Ford sales have increased. Ford sales so far in 2009 are 1,323,335, a drop of 20.4 percent from the first ten months in 2008. Volvo, still owned by Ford, had sales of 4,437, up 19.4 percent from October 2008, bringing the year-to-date sales total to 51,166, a 19.7 percent drop from the first ten months of 2008.

American Honda posted total October vehicle sales of 85,502, a decline of 4 percent compared to October 2008. Honda Division posted October sales of 75,751, a decline of five units versus October 2008. American Honda year-to-date sales of  969,638 representing a  23.4 percent decrease.

Chrysler Group reported total U.S. sales for October of 65,803 units, a decrease of 30 percent compared with the same time period in 2008. Year-to-date Chrysler sales are 781,319, 39 percent lower than the first ten months last year.

Nissan North America reported October 2009 sales of 60,115, an increase of 5.6 percent compared with October 2008. Nissan Division sales rose 7.7 percent for the month, while sales of Infiniti vehicles were 9.3 percent lower than a year ago. Nissan has sold 640,411 vehicles this year, a 24 percent decline from last year.

Hyundai Motor America October sales of 31,005 units, a 49 percent increase compared with October 2008. Calendar year-to-date, Hyundai sales are 373,222, up 4 percent from 2008. This marks the tenth consecutive month of year-over-year gains in retail market share.

Kia Motors America October sales of 22,490 units, a 45.3-percent increase over the same month last year. Year to date sales totaled 261,060, a 7.2-percent increase over the same period last year.

Volkswagen of America reported October 2009 sales of 17,037, a 7.2 percent increase over October 2008. Audi, which is owned by VW but reports separately, had U.S. October sales of 7,358, down just 1.1 percent from October 2008's all-time record. VW 2009 sales are 176,817 so far this year, down 7.5 percent from 2008 while Audi has sold 66,876 vehicles in 2009 down 8.7 percent from 2008.

The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported October sales of 20,619 vehicles, a decrease of 19.1 percent the same month of 2008. The BMW Group also reported a year-to-date sales volume of 199,838 vehicles, down 23.7 percent compared to the first ten months of last year.
 
Daimler AG reported sales for the Mercedes-Benz Cars division in the U.S. (Mercedes-Benz and smart combined) of 18,854 units, an increase of 9.4 percent compared to October 2008. Mercedes-Benz USA October sales of 18,193 vehicles was its highest month of the year and a 21.3% improvement over October 2008. On a year-to-date basis, Mercedes sold 153,606 new vehicles, trailing the comparable period last year by 20.1%. smart USA recorded 661 sales in October 2009, a 70.4 percent drop. Year-to-date sales now total 13,082 units, down 35.8 percent from 2008. Since its introduction in the United States, there are nearly 40,000 smart fortwos traveling the roads throughout America.

Subaru of America had record-breaking October sales of 18,169, a 41-percent gain over October 2008. Subaru had a 13-percent gain year-to-date with 176,590 units sold in 2009.

Mazda North American Operations reported October 2009 sales of 15,068, a decrease of 8.4 percent versus October of 2008. Overall, total yearly sales are reported at 175,257, down 24.4 percent compared to 2008.

Mitsubishi Motors North America October 2009 sales of 3,867 brings the 2009 total for 10 months to 46,706 vehicles.

Land Rover October U.S. sales were 2,160, a 7 percent increase over October 2008 and year-to-date Land Rover has sold 20,545 vehicles, a drop of 18 percent. Jaguar sold 882 cars in October, a 2 percent gain over last year and in 2009 Jaguar has sales of 9,556, down 26 percent from the same ten months of 2008. Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors of India, has sold a combined total of 30,101 in the U.S. this year down 21 percent from the year ago period.

American Suzuki had sales of 1,745 in October, a 50 percent drop from a year ago. Year-to-date Suzuki has sold 35.270 vehicles, a 55 percent drop from the first ten months of 2008.
 
Porsche Cars North America October sales in the U.S. were 1,642, up 15 percent from the same period last year. This marks the third consecutive month that PCNA has recorded an increase in year-over-year sales from 2008. On sale for only about two weeks, Porsche’s new four-door Panamera has already recorded sales of 360. Year-to-date Porsche sales are 15,952, down 29.1 percent from ten months in 2008.

Previous monthly sales reports.