October Auto Sales Uptick May Presage the 'New Normal'

October Auto Sales Uptick May Presage the 'New Normal'

By Michelle Krebs November 3, 2009

U.S. auto sales in October turned in a performance reminiscent of what can now be called the good old days before last year's market collapse, about even with October 2008 but up 13 percent from September.

October saw the first year-to-year sales increase -- excluding the Cash for Clunkers months this summer -- in two years. Sales of 837,800 vehicles during the month translated into a Seasonally Adjusted Annual  Sales rate of 10.43 million units - about the same number that the consensus of industry watchers is still predicting for total actual sales volume for all of calendar 2008. (The SAAR last October was 10.78 million.)

So after recovering from record doldrums in the first half of the year, and stabilizing in the wake of the Cash for Clunkers blip over the summer followed by the sales-drought "payback" in September, the October sales numbers reflected a U.S. auto market that is recovering slowly and -- automakers hope -- surely.

"I'm taking a glass-half-full approach here," said Jessica Caldwell, head of U.S. industry analysis for Edmunds.com. "We're right about where we were a year ago, which is the first time in a long time we've been able to say that.

"We've moved past the bottom [of the market] and are showing steady improvement."Echoed Fred Diaz, lead executive for Chrysler's sales organization: "The industry showed signs of improvement this month with increasing sales, which is a trend we expect to continue for the remainder of the year."

Bob Carter, vice president of the Toyota division of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said that he perceives "modest but positive changes in market conditions" and "a good upswing in the second half that bodes well for the future."

Joblessness Still Worrisome

Some economic indicators are promising, such as new-housing starts and a stabilization in housing values, as well as the 3.5-percent increase in third-quarter GDP. Yet Carter and other auto executives noted the massive economic and industry obstacles through which their industry still must work before they could foresee any kind of substantial recovery in the market.

The still-rising U.S. unemployment rate is among those problems. "You have to worry about that the most going forward," said Michael DiGiovanni, executive director of global sales analysis for General Motors.  He noted that there also continues a "contraction in consumer credit."

Because joblessness continues to spread, Carter said, "consumer confidence remains very tentative. So we expect the recovery to be very gradual, extending into next year and beyond."

Wide Variation in Inventories

One major indication that the industry hasn't re-entered any kind of normalcy is that product inventories remain widely out of whack. OEMs slashed inventory early this year to try to adjust quickly enough to match falling sales. But then the spike in sales caused by Cash for Clunkers strained supplies of some hot-selling models.

And now, various automakers are having to recalibrate their strategies and adjust production levels for the scenario they believe is unfolding. They're trying to ensure that they have enough of the models that consumers want to ensure an adequate selection on dealer lots as a sales recovery begins to take hold - but not so many that they're stuck having to overly incentivize sales.

While its sales have become relatively robust, Ford, for example, has optimized inventory levels overall. And, significantly, about 90 percent of the vehicles in its dealer inventories are 2010 models, meaning that Ford won't have to spend as much as some competitors in financial incentives to get consumers to clear out 2009 models.

"We feel like we're just in awesome shape heading into the last two months of the year," said George Pipas, Ford's head of U.S. industry analysis.

Toyota has become similarly bullish about its inventories. After scraping the bottom of the barrel for many of its most fuel-efficient models over the summer, the Toyota division boosted its inventories to 150,000 units at the end of October, up from about 100,000 units as the month began.

Ideally, Carter said, Toyota division would like to have about 220,000 units of inventory, and he expects inventories to climb to around 200,000 units by the end of the year. Toyota dealers now at least are able to squeak by with a 30- to 40-day supply of most models, even though closer to a 60-day supply is ideal. But Carter noted that Prius and Rav4 supplies are still under 15 days each.

On the other hand, GM has more inventory clearing to do. It still has about 20,000 Saturn and Pontiac vehicles to sell as the company closes out those brands, and its inventories are roughly evenly divided overall between 2009 and 2010 models. Among other things, that means GM will have to be feeding more incentives to its dealers than some competitors, in order to clear out the older models.

"GM differs from Ford and Toyota in that they need higher incentive spending," said Caldwell, of Edmunds.com. "They just had a pretty heavy month on incentives and they still have a lot of '09 models to clear out."

Luxury, Pickups Turn in Winning Performances

The performance of two segments stood out in October: luxury vehicles and pickup trucks.

Luxury sales have been hit harder than any other segment over the last year or so, but October results provided some reasons for hope of a recovery. For example, sales by Toyota's Lexus luxury division rose by more than 15 percent over a year earlier.

Mercedes-Benz sales increased by more than 21 percent over the year-earlier month, though Caldwell noted that the company fielded "lots of incentives" in an effort to sell down 2009 models.

Meanwhile, pickup-truck sales showed some vigor. They were excoriated a year ago because gasoline prices reached $4 a gallon over the summer. And Toyota's Carter is still predicting that overall U.S. pickup-truck sales for 2009 will still amount to fewer than half the 2.5-million level of two years ago, even with "a solid tailwind" during the last two months of this year.

Still, said Caldwell, October "was a big truck month" as Chevrolet and Ford stepped up marketing spending to battle for market share and to try to tap into modestly renascent demand in the wake of gasoline prices that have stabilized way under $3 and glimmers of broad economic recovery in the land.

Even Japanese brands that advertised little during the month, Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan, benefited from the high marketing spending in the category by GM and Ford and overall healthy levels of incentive spending to move pickups.

In October, 49 percent of vehicles sold were trucks; 51 percent were cars. In October a year ago, 46 percent were trucks and 54 percent were cars.

Market Share Breakdown

In terms of market share, the Detroit Three captured 45 percent of the market in October, that was down two percentage points from October 2008. 

Market Share of the Big 7
GM              21.1%
Toyota          18.2%
Ford             16.3%
Honda          10.2%
Chrysler         7.9%
Nissan           7.2%
Hyundai/Kia    6.4%
Source: Edmunds.com

 

General Motors: A Long 21 Months

For the first time in nearly two years, GM reported a year-over-year sales increase in October, with sales ticking up by 4 percent from October 2008, to 177,603 vehicles.

GM's performance was led by strong results for several new models and for its remaining four core brands - Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. The four marques accounted for about 95 percent of GM's retail sales during October, an increase of 10 percentage points compared with the prior year and also from as recently as July of this year.

"We're making progress toward growing strong brands and driving results," said Susan Docherty, GM's newly named vice president of U.S. sales. Among other happy results, Docherty noted that GM had gained market share for three straight months.

Industry-topping levels of incentive spending continued to buoy GM brands and products as it had in September. "Part of our incentive spend had been to address vehicles and brands that we've got in wind-down, and some of our over-aged inventory," Docherty explained. "But it didn't happen overnight, and we're not going to fix it overnight."

In fact, Docherty announced extension to January 4 of an incentive program attached to its provocative May the Best Car Win marketing campaign.

But GM executives were glad to note that much of the momentum behind the company's overall results came from strong sales of some of its newest vehicles. The company is in the midst of launching six new products within a three-month period.

Among GM's big winners in October were the Buick LaCrosse, which had its strongest month in its new version, up 36 percent in October sales compared with September and more than double sales of the old LaCrosse a year earlier.

"It's attracting a younger buyer: 1/3 of them are under the age of 55, which is very encouraging," Docherty said. 

Also, she said, the new Chevrolet Camaro out-sold the Ford Mustang, its fellow muscle-car icon, for the fifth consecutive month.

Still, among GM's many remaining challenges, Docherty said, is chasing 1.6 million people whom she called "free agents" whose GM brands - including Hummer, Saab, Pontiac and Saturn - either are being wound down or diposed of, as well as consumers who are encountering the closing of their favorite GM dealerships.

"We want to assure them that we're going to honor their service needs and that we desire their business and we want to keep them in the family," Docherty said.
 

Ford Basks In Modest October Uptick

Although Ford's October sales were up just 3 percent compared with last year, the company's sales analysts are looking past the modest gain, focusing instead on its indicator for larger trends.

Ford's retail market share, said chief of U.S. industry analysis George Pipas, improved compared with October 2008, a performance that marked a dozen times in 13 months the company's retail share increased.

Ford is gradually rebuilding inventories, said Pipas, to the point where they will be approximately 400,000 units by year-end, approximately 10 percent less than at the same time last year. Additionally, almost 90 percent of Ford's inventory is comprised of 2010 models - a pace that is well advanced of typical years, when prior-year inventory is not cleared to that level for many more months.

And Pipas said Ford's - and the broader industry's - intensive efforts to curb inventories now is paying off: Ford's incentives in October were 30 percent less than the same period last year.

"Clearly, the Ford plan is working," said Ken Czubay, vice president of U.S. marketing.

Promising trends were foreshadowed by the radical increase in sales for the new 2010 Taurus, whose 6,017 sales in October were a 141.4-percent leap over last year. Pipas said Taurus retail sales were almost triple last year's levels.

The Fusion midsize sedan also posted a healthy 24-percent gain and even the Mustang, whose sales have dwindled in a tough economy, notched a 2.2-percent increase. The only Ford-brand car to see a sales drop in October was the Focus, with a 4.3-percent decline.

Underscoring how difficult 2009 has been, however, only one Ford car, the Fusion, has broken into positive numbers for the year. The Taurus remains off by 27 percent, the Focus is down 22.7 percent and the Mustang is off by 32.4 percent.

After a heavily advertised "truck month" promotion, Ford's crossovers and SUVs appeared to be the actual beneficiaries; the F-Series pickup line remained down by 8.8 percent while the Edge crossover jumped 37.5 percent, the Escape compact crossover surged 26.1 percent and the long-sliding Explorer SUV chipped in a rare increase at 15.2-percent better than last October.

Thanks to solid results from the MKZ midsize sedan (+26.9 percent) and the MKX crossover (+14.8 percent), sales for the Lincoln brand declined just 9 percent versus year-ago. Sales for the brand remain off by 26.9 percent for the year.

And at the Mercury division, sales were down just 1.1 percent thanks to a 36.2-percent sales jump from the Mariner compact crossover, now the brand's volume leader. No Mercury model has posted positive year-to-date sales.

The Volvo Cars unit, which Ford is hoping to sell, was up 19.4 percent in October, led by a 61.9-percent increase for the entry-level S40, a 32.6-percent hike for the C30 coupe and a 27.6-percent gain for the S80 flagship.

Volvo has clawed back to a year-to-date performance lagging 2008 by just 19.7 percent, thanks to the addition of the XC60 compact crossover and steady improvement for the C30, which is up slightly for the year.

Chrysler Looking For Jump-Start  

October sales at Chrysler Group LLC were down 30 percent compared with a year ago, although the numbers were 6 percent better than September's post-Cash For Clunkers total. This year, October, September and January have been three of Chrysler's worst sales months of the decade.

The Dodge division's Caravan and Avenger were Chrysler's only models to post a sales increase over last October; the Caravan was up 8 percent and Avenger sales increased by 13 percent.

And Dodge's Journey and Challenger were the only two Chrysler models to improve sales on a year-to-date basis: the Journey is up 4 percent for the year, Challenger (which was still ramping up sales at this time last year) is up 86 percent compared with October, 2008.

According to Edmunds.com, Chrysler did markedly reduce incentive spending in October, to an estimated Total Cost of Incentives figure of $3,219 compared with a first-quarter 2009 average of $4,983.

But that reduction in incentive spending could be interpreted to have cost Chrysler at the cash register, given that apart from the Journey and Challenger, nearly every Chrysler-, Dodge- and Jeep-brand vehicle posted double-digit sales declines in October.

Chrysler's Town & Country minivan was the lone exception, which dropped just 7 percent. But sales of other Chrysler models were hammered, including a 32-percent drop for the Sebring line and a 15-percent decline for the 300 fullsize sedan. The PT Cruiser, which Chrysler decided to re-commission, recorded just 135 sales as production resumes in Mexico.

At Jeep, the numbers also were not encouraging, with total brand sales dropping 37 percent in October and 33 percent for the year.

Jeep's compact Compass and Patriot slid 62 percent and 65 percent; the Compass sold just 327 units in October (and is down 55 percent for the year). The Grand Cherokee fell 42 percent and the evergreen Wrangler dropped by 16 percent in October, dragging year-to-date sales back into negative territory.

With managing owner Fiat S.p.A. promising to turn around Chrysler on the strength of small, fuel-efficient cars, the performance of the Dodge Caliber compact should be particularly alarming: Caliber sales were off 87 percent to just 583 units for the month and year-to-date sales have plunged 61 percent.

Meanwhile, on the truck side, the Dodge Ram pickup was down 30 percent in October and the midsize Dakota sold just 512 units (a 46-percent decline).

Ram now is its own brand in the Chrysler empire and encompasses the Ram pickup line, the Dakota and the Sprinter van.

Toyota: Replenishing Inventories 

Toyota reported sales of 152,165 vehicles in the U.S. for October, nearly precisely flat with a year ago.

Still, the result represented something of a victory for Toyota, whose American executives have been suffering for more than a year nearly every bit as much as their counterparts with U.S.-based companies from the awful market.

"October sales benefited from improved inventory as well as a stabilizing market," Carter said.

For another one thing, according to Edmunds.com calculations, Toyota's incentive spending in October was down about 15 percent from a year ago and yielded the same level of absolute sales.

Toyota's inventories, while still below where executives would like them on an absolute level and in terms of days' supply, comprise a nearly ideal mix. In October, 86 percent of vehicles sold were 2010-model-year, while last October, only 69 percent of vehicles were 2009-model-year.

Nevertheless, only three Toyota division vehicles contributed year-over-year sales increases: Prius, RAV4 and Tundra.

Meanwhile, the Lexus luxury division posted a surprisingly strong sales increase, marking its second consecutive month of year-to-year sales growth. Among the hottest sellers were the RX and RX Hybrid crossovers.

Lexus also is launching refreshed LS 460 and ES 350 sedans and, by the end of the year, a new GX SUV.

Honda Hitting The Wall?

Although a number of American Honda Motor Co. Inc. vehicles posted sales increases in October, Honda still fell short by 4 percent when compared with sales from last October, when the nation's financial crisis hit full stride and vehicle sales plummeted.

Apart from post-Cash For Clunkers September, October was Honda's worst sales month since February. And data analysts at Edmunds.com said Honda's October conquest rate of 53.8 percent is the lowest in the company's database that dates to 2005.

Honda's fuel-efficient halo cars seemingly are one drag on the company's sales charts. After enjoying a fruitful run in the Cash For Clunkers program, Fit subcompact plunged 44.9 percent in October and remain off 15.3 percent for the year.

And the new Insight hybrid-electric vehicle, though soundly thumping its in-showroom rival, the Civic Hybrid, contributed just 1,739 units in October. Honda initially spoke of U.S. approaching 100,000 units for the Insight, which launched in late April. But after slightly more than six months on the market, Insight sales total just 17,530.

The Accord rang in with a 13.1-percent gain that was offset by a 17.7-percent drop for the Civic lineup. Both of Honda's mainstream cars remain down respectively by almost identical 26.6- and 26.5-percent margins for the year.

Although Honda's car sales were down by 7.1 percent, trucks fared better: thanks to gains from the CR-V (+14.7 percent) and Pilot (22.7 percent), Honda trucks recorded a slim 0.7-percent gain in October. No Honda truck is in positive territory for the year, though: the Ridgeline is off by a serious-looking 55.6 percent to just 13,478 total sales this year, and the aged Element is down 47.7 percent for the year.

Sales at Honda's Acura premium unit declined 7 percent in October despite double-digit gains for the MDX (+23 percent) and RDX (+41.9 percent) crossovers. As with the Honda division, sales performance for cars lagged trucks: car sales dropped 25.8 percent and trucks improved by 26.4 percent.

Acura's entry point, the TSX sedan, saw sales increase by a solid 20.2 percent in October, but the RL and TL sedans dropped by 45 percent and 44.2 percent, respectively. And no Acura model has a year-to-date sales increase, with the RL's 59.2-percent drop to a scanty 1,646 sales for the year looking particularly painful.

Although Honda benefited meaningfully from the Cash For Clunkers program, no Honda or Acura model has increased sales on a year-to-date basis. Honda's total sales through October are 969,638, a decline of 23.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

Nissan: Still Clearing '09s

Nissan reported a 6-percent sales increase for October compared with a year ago, to 60,115 units.

The month was fairly typical, on average, for Nissan, whose monthly sales totals this year have averaged about 64,000 units. Similarly, Nissan's incentive spending was around the industry average for the month, at about $2,500 per vehicle, and slightly lower than Nissan's average for the year.

But Nissan was badly out of balance in terms of the age of its inventories. It has a poor model-year mix, with 62 percent of vehicles sold in October of 2009-model-year vintage, according to Edmunds.com. A year ago, Nissan had exactly the opposite situation with old models.

The Rogue small crossover recorded its best October, with sales of nearly 6,00 vehicles up nearly 7 percent compared with a year earlier.

Truck sales were up strongly, by nearly 18 percent over a year earlier, as Nissan's pickups rode a category-wide marketing blitz and a poor year-ago comparison to a surprising result.

Still, sales by the Infiniti luxury division were down more than 9 percent compared with a year earlier, to only about 6,400 units.

Hyundai Group: Biggest Winners Again  

The Hyundai Group, including the Hyundai and Kia brands, boosted combined October sales by a whopping 47.4 percent to 53,495 vehicles.

Hyundai Motor America had the bulk of those sales --  31,005 vehicles - for a 49-percent increase from October 2008.

Hyundai launched its 'Momentum' ad campaign at the start of October to ride the wave of good news and accolades that Hyundai has received this year. Still, it didn't prevent a 1.6-percent decline from September to October to the lowest-volume month since February.

Edmunds.com estimates Hyundai's October Total Cost of Incentives averaged $1,931 per vehicle, the lowest since June 2008.

Hyundai Elantra sales tripled year-over-year for October. Elantra is beginning a fourth year of the current generation, and standard iPod/USB connection has been added.

Genesis continued its strong growth trend with sales of 1,850, a 65-percent increase. The Accent and Elantra had significant increases of 106 percent and 225 percent respectively versus 2008. The Santa Fe delivered a 70 percent sales increase, leading up to the introduction of the more fuel-efficient facelifted 2010 model coming early next year. Sonata sales slipped some as photos and news of the 2011 Sonata circulated.

"We've done a good job of selling down our 2009 model year inventory over the last few months, with about two-thirds of Hyundai car sales in October being fresh, 2010 model year vehicles," said Dave Zuchowski, vice president of sales.

"With the recent encouraging economic news of a 3.5 percent GDP growth during the third quarter, the best in two years, we are looking forward to the final two months of the year," he added. "We have our all-new Tucson launching at the end of this year and the 2011 Sonata coming early next year, so we are excited about the terrific new products we'll be filling our dealerships with."

For the year to date, Hyundai has sold 373,222 vehicles for a 4 percent increase.

Kia Motors America sold 22,490 vehicles in October,  a 45.3-percent increase over the same month last year Kia.

October sales were led by the new Kia Forte compact and Rio subcompact, selling 4,984 and 4,005 units respectively. The Kia Borrego SUV also sold well, posting its best month ever with 3,919 units.

Kia sales for the first 10 months totaled 261,060, a 7.2-percent increase over the same period last year. The increase is driven primarily by newly launched models: Forte, Borrego and Soul. The Sportage, a few years into its life cycle, received a huge boost from Cash for Clunkers, but now Sportage sales volume is moving at below-average, recessionary volume levels.

Volkswagen Gets Boost from Jetta, CC, TDI
  
Volkswagen of America sold 17,037 vehicles, a 7.2-percent increase over October 2008.

The Volkswagen CC had its best month since March with sales of 2,349 vehicles. Sales of the Volkswagen Jetta soared 24 percent from a year ago to 9,076 sold. Jetta TDI sales accounted for 40 percent of all Jetta sales. TDI models in total represented 24 percent of VW's  October sales. Touareg sales were up 30.1 percent.

Meantime, Passat sales were down 41.2 percent, new Beetle sales off 22.4 percent, Tiguan sales down 47.7 percent, Routan minivan sales off 15.2 percent.

"We're extremely pleased with our October sales results," said Mark Barnes, chief operating officer, Volkswagen of America, Inc. "Our clean diesel TDI models continue to gain momentum in the marketplace, and the Golf and Touareg TDI's are welcome editions to our model lineup."

Barnes predicted the CC's momentum will continue with more market awareness.

For the year so far, Volkswagen of America has sold 176,817 vehicles, a 7.5-percent decline from the same period in 2008.

BMW Group: BMW, Mini Sales Slides Continue

The BMW Group, including the BMW and Mini brands, reported October sales of 20,619 vehicles, a decrease of 19.1 percent from October 2008.

Sales of BMW-branded vehicles declined 18.6 percent to 16,443 units. BMW, which said in a statement that sales were in line with its expectations, blamed some of the decline on limited inventory of the new 2010 models that only began arriving in dealerships mid-month.

"In October, we continue to see the trend of high-volume premium models grabbing the majority of sales while lower volume specialty vehicles lag their previous year's performance," said Jim O'Donnell, president of BMW of North America. He added that BMW is focusing on its core 3-, 5-, 7- and X5 series.

He noted the BMW 7-Series had its best-ever monthly sales and posting a 10.3 percent increase from a year ago.

Mini sold 4,176 cars, a decline of 20.8 percent. The automaker noted that in October 2008, Mini benefited "over-proportionally" from $4 gas prices.

"October played trick or treat with us, and we got a mixed bag of news with no clear trend," said Jim McDowell, MiniUSA vice president. "While our dealers reported a lot of cautious customers and pragmatic buying choices, we also saw an inspiring performance in the West with sales being above last year.

For the year, the BMW Group also sold 199,838 vehicles, down 23.7 percent compared to 261,802 vehicles sold in the first 10 months of last year. BMW brand sales are down 25.6 percent; Mini sales are off 14.8 percent.

Daimler: Mercedes Up on E-Class Strength; smart Sales Plummet

Daimler AG reported sales of Mercedes-Benz and smart vehicles combined of 18,854 vehicles, up 9.4 percent from a year ago.

Mercedes-Benz sales rose 21.3 percent to 18,193 vehicles, the brand's highest month of the year.

"Clearly we're very pleased with this month's result, and we believe that we will be able to parlay this into a strong fourth quarter and continued increases in our market share," said Ernst Lieb, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA.

Lieb attributed the strong month to a more stable economic environment and momentum from the company's new models, notably the ninth-generation E-class and GLK-Class, helped by volume leaders like the C-class and M-Class. Mercedes claims the GLK, introduced in January, has outsold every vehicle in its class on a year-to-date basis. The E-Class recorded sales of 6,071 units, a 189.4 percent increase over October 2008.

Sales of the smart car plummeted 70.4 percent to 661 vehicles, from 2,236 sold in October last year, its first year on the market.

For the year so far, Daimler has sold 166,688 vehicles, down 21.6 percent for the comparable period last year. Of those, Mercedes has sold 153,606 vehicles, trailing the comparable period last year by 20.1 percent. Smart sales total 13,082 for the year, down 35.8 percent from last year.

Mazda Dips from a Year Ago

Mazda North American Operations sold 15,068 vehicles in October, a decrease of 8.4 percent from a year ago.

The new 2010 Mazda 3 led the way with sales of 6,729 vehicles, an increase of 10.4 percent, making it the model's best October since 2007.  The MX-5 Miata, RX-8 and CX-7 all reported sales that represent the best October since 2007, signaling that Mazda is gaining strength and momentum.

Sales of the Mazda5, which had been showing year-to-year increases, dropped 55.6 percent in October compared with last October when the new version hit the market. Similarly, Mazda 6 had a 26.4-percent decline for the month. The CX-9 is off 8.8 percent. The Tribute and B-Series trucks also saw declines.

Mazda's year-to-date sales totaled 175,257 vehicles, down 24.4 percent compared to 2008.

 

Jaguar Land Rover: Up, Up and Up a Bit

Jaguar Land Rover North America reported October sales of 3,042 vehicles, an increase of 5 percent from a year ago. Both brands saw year-over-year increases. Jaguar sold 882 cars, 2 percent up from 867 in October 2008. Land Rover sold 2,264 SUVs, up 7 percent from 2,027 in October 2008.Jaguar sold

"Achieving monthly sales increases for both Jaguar and Land Rover in October in the U.S. is an important achievement symbolizing that we can once again work towards growing our business," said company President Gary Temple.

Land Rover's sales were driven by increases in the LR3/LR4, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover models. Range Rover HSE and SC models reached 748 models up 22 percent from 612 in October 2008.  The Range Rover Sport had sales of 1,043 units, up 23 percent from 849. LR3/LR4 sales increased 3 percent 245 units from 239 in October 2008.

 Jaguar sales were fueled by the XF and XK. Jaguar XF sales of 678 units were up 21 percent versus 555 sales in October 2008.  The Jaguar XK reached 162 units this month, up 32 percent from 123 units in October 2008. 

Subaru Shatters More Records

Subaru of America announced record-breaking October sales. The company not only had its best October sales ever, but also had its best October sales for the Subaru Forester, Legacy and Outback models.

Subaru sold 18,169 vehicles in October, up 41 percent from 12,917 vehicles sold in October 2008.

Breaking October sales records were the Subaru Forester, which had a 13-percent sales increase, the Subaru Legacy with a 112-percent  increase, and the Subaru Outback had a 175-percent sales increase.

"The launch of our Legacy and Outback products is gaining momentum and helping to fuel record sales, while the record breaking success of Forester continues," said Tim Colbeck, senior vice president of sales, Subaru of America.

For the year so far, Subaru has sold 176,590 vehicles, up 13 percent from 156,706 sold in 2008.

Mitsubishi: A Shadow of its Former Self

Mitsubishi Motors North America sold 3,867 vehicles, a 48-percent decline from a year ago and a 17.9-percent decrease from September. For the year so far, Mitsubishi sales are off about 47 percent.

"While the sales situation has proven challenging for Mitsubishi Motors in October, we remain steadfast in our commitment to the market and our dealer body," said Shinichi Kurihara, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America.

Kurihara said he sees encouraging signs with the launch of the 2010 Mitsubishi Outlander and recently launched Lancer Sportback.

Suzuki: Down by Half

Suzuki sold 1,745 vehicles in October, a 50-percent decline from the 3,482 it sold a year ago. The smallest decline Suzuki had was with the SX4, down "only" 33 percent.

For the year, Suzuki has sold 35,270, a 55-percent from from 77,996 sold in the first 10 months last year. Similarly, the smallest drop for the period was the SX4, down 32 percent. The numbers do not include the new Suzuki Kizashi. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large; Bill Visnic, Senior Contributing Editor; Dale Buss, Contributing Writer

Edmunds.com analysts Jessica Caldwell, Ivan Drury and David Greene contributed to this report with their sales analysis.

Graphic by Robert Holland

Photos by Manufacturers

1- Chevrolet Camaro
2 - Ford Taurus
3 - Dodge Avenger
4 - Toyota Tundra
5 - Acura TSX
6 - Nissan Rogue
7 - Hyundai Genesis Coupe
8 - Kia Forte
9 - Volkswagen CC
10 - BMW 7-Series
11 - Mercedes-Benz E-class
12 - Mazda3
13 - Subaru Outback
14 - Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback
15 - Suzuki SX4
 

 

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.