Car Companies Enjoying Great December Sales

TROY (WWJ) - It looks like shoppers have been doing more than visiting the mall this month. They are also spending a lot of time in car dealerships.

"We're projecting December to top one million units," says Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at LMC Automotive. "That's the first time that's going to happen since the "Cash for Clunkers" induced selling level in August of 2009."

Schuster says the same trends that made for solid sales reports in October and November, are working in December.

"We've got short and long term pent up demand," he said. "We have a pattern here setting up continued recovery in 2012."

Analysts for LMC and J.D. Power are projecting that December sales will come in about eight per cent above December of 2010.

"Retail light-vehicle sales in December are performing well month-to-date, even as total incentive spending averages $2,700, down 10 percent from December 2010," said John Humphrey, senior vice president of global automotive operations at J.D. Power and Associates. "The industry has managed through another series of external shocks and is in a healthier position as the year closes."

The year is expected to close with an annual sales rate of around 12.8 million units. As the year ends, some trends are becoming very clear when it comes to which vehicles were strong performers in the past year.

"Ford's F-150 is right there at the top again," says Michelle Krebs, an analyst with Edmunds.com. "Chevy's Silverado, by the way, right behind it. Despite all of the talk about pickup truck sales being off, they still are at the top of the list."

Toyota's Camry will remain the best selling car in America, according to the Edmunds list, which uses sales data for the first 11 months of the year, and dealer information for December. A number of familiar names finished in the top ten, but one vehicle was noticeable for its absence.

"Honda Civic isn't in the top ten this year," said Krebs. "It had a lot of supply problems. They redid that model. It caught a lot of criticism as being not quite up to snuff in its segment."

Honda has admitted errors in the design of the Civic, and is working to quickly update the vehicle.

The anticipated top ten selling vehicles for 2011, in order, are:

1.) Ford F-150
2.) Chevrolet Silverado
3.) Toyota Camry
4.) Nissan Altima
5.) Ford Escape
6.) Honda Accord
7.) Ford Fusion
8.) Chevrolet Cruze
9.) Toyota Corolla
10.)Hyundai Sonata

When the auto industry closes the books on 2011, sales will be up by nearly a million units over 2010. Similar growth is expected next year.

"History will remember 2011 as a resilient year for the auto industry," said Edmunds.com Chief Economist Lacey Plache. "Both automakers and consumers faced down a range of economic obstacles throughout 2011, and even as sales slumped dramatically through the summer, the industry battled back to finish strong and with momentum going into 2012."