Pent-up demand because of aging automobiles has been helping to drive auto sales for months.
November was no exception, as rising consumer confidence and low interest rates helped Chrysler Group LLC, majority owned by Fiat, report a 14-percent jump in sales to 122,565 cars and trucks, its strongest result since 2007 before the recession.
Ford Motor Co.’s sales climbed 6.5 percent, thanks to strong demand for its popular F-Series pickups and its new C-Max hybrid. Ford also said that it would boost first-quarter production by 11 percent in a sign that it is confident the sales pace would continue.
General Motors Co., the nation’s largest automaker, reported a 3-percent increase from a year earlier, thanks to a 19 percent rise in car sales. Truck sales slipped 11 percent, however.
Auto sales are an early indicator each month of U.S. consumer demand.
“We are expecting a strong December as the industry continues to recover from the East Coast hurricane,” Chrysler U.S. sales chief Reid Bigland said.
Ford projects November as its best hybrid sales month ever, exceeding 6,000 units, up from previous record of 5,353 units sold in July 2009. Ford expects to achieve all-time-high 11 percent share of electrified vehicle market – an increase of more than fivefold this year alone driven by C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid sales of 4,400 units projected for November.
“Our electrified vehicles are a great symbol of how Ford is delivering leading fuel economy across our lineup – something that’s driving more and more customers to switch to us from Toyota and others,” says C.J. O’Donnell, marketing manager for Ford Electrified Vehicles. “We’re providing our customers the power to choose from a suite of electric vehicles that offer leading fuel economy, performance and technology – at a perfect time when nearly all customers are prioritizing fuel economy and more than 60 percent are considering hybrids.”
