December sales ended 2010 on a largely positive note for most manufacturers. You're probably more interested, however, in how these brands and companies performed for the entire year of 2010. Hold on to your Sirius satellite radios, because those numbers are on their way, but first we have to dispense with December.

There's actually nothing too shocking in the sales numbers for December, as most manufacturers finished strongly, with an increase in sales versus December 2009, and those that were down were either not down by very much (Lexus, Jaguar, Toyota and Dodge) or are the usual suspects (Mercury, Lincoln, Volvo, Chrysler and Smart).

Dodge and Chrysler are looking forward to selling significantly updated hardware in 2011, while Toyota will continue to work its way out of the dog house with those consumers that lost some faith in the Japanese juggernaut during its recall debacle in 2010. With that in mind, we expect even more brands to be bragging about the blockbuster year of sales they just had when the next new year rolls around.

Brand/Company Vol. % Volume
December 2010		 Volume
December 2009		 DSR*% DSR December 2010 DSR
December 2009
Ram 87.01 24,270 12,978 93.94 899 464
Jeep 48.53 30,910 20,810 54.04 1,145 743
Acura 46.47 15,489 10,575 51.89 574 378
Kia 44.64 30,444 21,048 50.00 1,128 752
Suzuki 40.42 2,647 1,885 45.63 98 67
Buick 39.70 17,095 12,237 44.87 633 437
Infiniti 37.26 12,502 9,108 42.35 463 325
GMC 35.04 42,159 31,220 40.04 1,561 1,115
Hyundai 32.56 44,802 33,797 37.47 1,659 1,207
Nissan 26.33 81,228 64,296 31.01 3,008 2,296
Mini 23.82 4,320 3,489 28.40 160 125
Saab 23.73 1,074 868 28.32 40 31
Porsche 21.20 2,567 2,118 25.69 95 76
Honda 18.18 114,127 96,568 22.56 4,227 3,449
Mazda 17.66 21,479 18,255 22.02 796 652
Volkswagen 17.07 23,867 20,387 21.41 884 728
Audi 16.79 10,546 9,030 21.11 391 323
Subaru 15.69 26,694 23,074 19.97 989 824
BMW 15.66 23,280 20,128 19.94 862 719
Cadillac 13.38 16,718 14,745 17.58 619 527
Mitsubishi 11.92 4,874 4,355 16.06 181 156
Ford 9.65 174,523 159,169 13.71 6,464 5,685
Chevrolet 9.10 147,960 135,622 13.14 5,480 4,844
Mercedes-Benz 7.21 21,469 20,025 11.18 795 715
Land Rover 2.78 3,695 3,595 6.59 137 128
Lexus -3.52 27,560 28,565 0.06 1,021 1,020
Jaguar -5.30 1,180 1,246 -1.79 44 45
Toyota -5.88 149,928 159,295 -2.39 5,553 5,689
Dodge -6.42 32,390 34,613 -2.96 1,200 1,236
Mercury -10.53 8,393 9,381 -7.22 311 335
Volvo -15.64 4,756 5,638 -12.52 176 201
Lincoln -23.00 8,060 10,467 -20.14 299 374
Chrysler -27.54 13,132 18,122 -24.85 486 647
Smart -34.03 570 864 -31.58 21 31
(Hummer) -88.31 38 325 -87.87 1 12
(Saturn) -98.33 85 5,084 -98.27 3 182
(Pontiac) -98.45 130 8,410 -98.40 5 300
COMPANIES
Nissan NA 27.69 93,730 73,404 32.42 3,471 2,622
American Honda 20.97 129,616 107,143 25.46 4,801 3,827
BMW Group 16.86 27,600 23,617 21.19 1,022 843
Chrysler Group 16.39 100,702 86,523 20.70 3,730 3,090
GM (Core) 15.53 223,932 193,824 19.81 8,294 6,922
GM 7.52 224,185 208,511 11.50 8,303 7,447
Ford Mo Co 6.68 190,976 179,017 10.63 7,073 6,393
Jaguar Land Rover 0.70 4,875 4,841 4.43 181 173
Toyota Mo Co -5.52 177,488 187,860 -2.02 6,574 6,709
*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 27 selling days in December 2010 versus 28 selling days in November 2009, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are only combined and reported as companies if their sales numbers are released together.