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The Detroit News
General Motor Co. reported flat vehicle sales in October – up just 2 percent from the same month last year – while crosstown rival Chrysler Group LLC saw a 27 percent spike in sales.

For Detroit-based GM, retail sales were up 3 percent and accounted for 77 percent of all sales, the carmaker said Tuesday morning in a news release.

“Chevrolet led the way for GM in October, driven by the continued success of the Cruze and Equinox,” said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations, in a statement. “Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC have all performed well this year, which has set the stage for our transition to a higher mix of 2012 model-year vehicles. Combined with the launches of several new fuel-efficient cars, including the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick LaCrosse eAssist, we are very well positioned going forward.”

GM sold 186,895 vehicles in October and Chevrolet did the all of the heavy lifting for the month, selling 131,804 units. The largest brand for GM saw sales increase of 6 percent compared to last October. All of GM’s other brands reported sales drops: Buick sales dropped 7 percent, Cadillac sales fell 11.9 percent, and GMC sales fell off 4.6 percent.

However, GM pointed out that all four brands have had marked sales increases for the calendar year.

Meanwhile, Chrysler’s vehicle sales jumped 27 percent in October, the 19th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains, the Auburn Hill automaker reported earlier Tuesday morning.

The company sold 114,512 vehicles during the month, its best October in sales since 2007, Chrysler said. The sales spike was driven by retail sales, up 40 percent from the same month last year, the company said.

“In what is turning out to be a strong new vehicle sales industry we continued to outperform,” said Reid Bigland, president and CEO – Dodge Brand and head of U.S. Sales. “For October, our retail sales increased 40 percent year-over-year with sales of the Chrysler 300 more than doubling and Jeep Compass sales increasing nearly fivefold. The month of October also marked our 19th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains.”

Ford Motor Co. October sales figures are expected to be released around noon today and other automakers also will report sales later in the day.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111101/AUTO01/111010502/GM-sales-flat–Chrysler-spikes-27-#ixzz1cTCTJdTA
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