U.S. Car Manufacturers Have Record December; Honda Sales Fall

By SUSANNA KIM (@skimm)
NYT
Jan. 4, 2012

Chrysler announced its best monthly retail sales in four year years, leading the pack of U.S. car makers who had capped a robust 2011 with strong December sales. Consumers unleashed pent-up demand although sales of an estimated 12.8 million vehicles for the year were still far short of their peak of 16.1 million reached before the recession began in 2007.

Chrysler Group reported 138,019 U.S. car sales in December, a 37 percent increase compared with December 2010 and its best monthly sales since May 2008. The company reported strong sales of the Chrysler brand sedans and Jeep sales.

Chrysler sold 1.37 million units in 2011, an increase of 26 percent from 2010, the largest percentage sales gain of any full-line manufacturer, the company said in a release.

Sales of Chrysler-branded cars increased 83 percent from a year ago, the largest percentage sales gain of all the Chrysler Group brands, and represented its best monthly sales since August 2008. The Fiat brand surged 44 percent compared to November. Compared to a year ago, Jeep sales increased 41 percent and Dodge sales increased 28 percent.

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