By the Numbers - December 2010: Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot Edition

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.

*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.