November 2011: Black Friday Edition

U.S. auto sales during the month November were up on the backs of companies like Chrysler, Volkswagen and Kia, all three of which reported major gains for their respective brands. The Chrysler Group in particular posted positive numbers for all four of its brands, including a spectacular 92.23-percent rise in sales for the Chrysler brand itself. Volkswagen and Kia didn't perform quite as well, but each managed gains of around 40 percent.
This time, Honda stands alone as the only major automaker to post a sales decline in November. The Japanese automaker's brands (Honda and Acura) together posted a drop of 6.35 percent. Toyota, which had been keeping Honda company they each struggled with restoring production after this year's series of natural disasters, had a relatively decent November with identical gains of 6.68 percent for both Toyota and Lexus.

Being the second-last month of the year, you may be interested to know how some close model-to-model sales races are shaping up. Here are some year-to-date sales races that will be decided in December, as well as always-interesting Camaro versus Mustang numbers.

• Best-Selling Minivan: Toyota Sienna (99,865) vs. Dodge Caravan (98,983)
• Best-Selling Pony Car: Chevrolet Camaro (81,495) vs. Ford Mustang (65,381)
• Best-Selling Small Car: Toyota Corolla (219,250) vs. Chevy Cruze (215,057)
• #3 Best-Selling Mid-Size (behind Camry and Altima): Ford Fusion (226,445) vs. Honda Accord (217,958)

*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 25 selling days in November 2011 and 24 selling days in November 2010, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company.