November New Car Sales Highest in Nearly Five Years

Photo of Paul Ausick
By Paul Ausick Updated Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

car_production_line
Thinkstock
U.S. new car sales in November rose 15% year-over-year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15.54 million. Compared with October, sales rose 4.7% to 1.14 million units sold according to data released today by Truecar.com.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) led the parade with sales of more than 186,500 units, down 4.7% sequentially but up 3.4% for compared with November 2011. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) finished second, with over 177,000 units sold, up 5.4% sequentially and 6.4% compared with last year. Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) sold nearly 162,000 units, up 4.2% from October and 17.2% year-over-year and Chrysler sales topped 122,000 units, down 2.9% from October but up 14.4% year-over-year.

GM, Ford, Toyota, and Chrysler remain the top four carmakers measured by market share as well, with 16.3%, 15.5%, 14.1%, and 10.7%, respectively.

The biggest gain in unit sales came at Nissan, up 20.7%. The company also raised its incentive spending in November by 21.7%. The average new car transaction price reached an all-time high of $30,832 in November.

Truecar.com estimates that a minimum of 30,000 November new car sales were related to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy. The research firm expects that number to rise in December, and further expects unit sales to total 1.43 million units. The full calendar year 2012 estimate for new car sales is now 14.56 million, and Truecar.com estimates sales will rise to 15.4 million units in 2013.

Paul Ausick

Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618