Chrysler Group LLC, now majority owned by Italy’s Fiat SpA, reported December sales rose 10% year-over-year. Auto shopping web site Edmunds.com had forecast a monthly increase of 7.3% for the company. Chrysler sold a total of 152,367 units in December, the company’s best December total since 2007. For the year, Chrysler sales topped 1.65 million units, the company’s highest annual sales in five years.
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) posted a sales gain of 5% year-over-year in December to 245,733 vehicles sold. Like Chrysler, this was GM’s best December total since 2007 and its best month for retail sales in all of 2012. GM sold a total of nearly 2.6 million units in 2012, up 3.7% from 2011 sales.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) showed a sales gain of 2% in December and total sales of 2.25 million units for 2012. Annual sales rose 4.7%, with car sales up 5.3% and truck sales up 2.4%. Ford’s Focus brand showed the sharpest growth, up 40% year-over-year to about 246,000 units in 2012.
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) said full-year 2012 sales rose 27% and sales in December were up 9% compared with sales in December 2011. For the year, Toyota reported sales of 2.08 million units.
Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) has not released December sales yet.
Paul Ausick
Credit Card Companies Are Doing Something Nuts
Credit card companies are at war. The biggest issuers are handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers.
It’s possible to find cards paying unlimited 1.5%, 2%, and even more today. That’s free money for qualified borrowers, and the type of thing that would be crazy to pass up. Those rewards can add up to thousands of dollars every year in free money, and include other benefits as well.
We’ve assembled some of the best credit cards for users today. Don’t miss these offers because they won’t be this good forever.
Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.
You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.