On to our best-sellers. The list is nearly the same as last month with lower overall sales and mostly the same players.
Top 10 Best-Sellers
- Ford F -Series: 33,877
- Toyota Camry: 25,745
- Honda Accord: 20,826
- Toyota Corolla; 20,741
- Chevy Silverado: 19,401
- Honda Civic: 16,093
- Honda CR-V: 14,554
- Dodge Ram: 13,452
- Chevy Impala: 13,047
- Nissan Altima: 12,149
2009 model year overall sales:
Auto sales tumbled 41 percent from August’s buoyant levels, to 745,997 cars and light trucks. Compared with last September, they were down 22.7 percent. On a seasonally adjusted, annual basis, the selling pace fell to 9.22 million vehicles last month, from 12.57 million a year earlier.
However, stripping out the effects of the “cash for clunkers program,” which pulled ahead some sales and depleted inventories, auto executives said underlying demand appeared to be increasing gradually, in line with the fragile economic recovery.
“We feel the economy (and) the ‘cash for clunkers’ stimulus is moving the industry in the right direction,” said Michael DiGiovanni, General Motors Co.’s director of global market analysis.
“We’re cautiously optimistic about the fourth quarter,” he added. “Clearly, the economy’s gaining momentum.”
But GM and Chrysler Group LLC, which have both been through bankruptcy this year, registered the steepest declines in the market last month. Chrysler’s sales fell 42.1 percent, while GM’s dropped 45 percent, from very high levels a year earlier.
Helped by rising demand for its passenger cars, including the new Taurus, Ford limited its sales decline to just 5.1 percent.
That was less than the declines registered by Japan’s leading automakers. Toyota Motor Corp.’s U.S. sales were down 12.6 percent, Honda Motor Co.’s were 20.1 percent lower and Nissan Motor Co.’s sales fell 7 percent.
