• December 1, 2009

The auto sales numbers are in for November: Not too shabby. General Motors posted only a 2% decline versus the month last year, delivering 151,427 vehicles. Retail sales for the automaker were actually up 1% when fleet is taken out of the equation. The company says that for the brands it's keeping -- Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac -- total sales were up 6% versus last November, with retail sales up 10%.

"Consumer interest in our launch vehicles remains solid," said Susan Docherty, GM VP U.S. sales, in a statement.

Toyota posted sales of 133,700 vehicles -- an increase of 11.5% over last November, with the Toyota division seeing a 9.8% increase and Lexus reporting a 24% improvement versus the month last year.

Ford posted a 14% improvement versus a year ago for its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands, with sales of crossovers up 26%. The company says sales of the new Taurus are up 54% versus year-ago levels, as was Fusion.

The new Fiesta debuts on Wednesday at the Los Angeles International Auto Show. The company says it plans to build 550,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2010 -- an increase of 201,000 units (58%) compared with the first quarter of 2009.

Honda posted November sales of 74,003 vehicles, an increase of 5.5% versus last November. The company says year-to-date sales of 1,043,641 vehicles represents a decrease of 21.7% versus the first 11 months last year. Honda division sales improved 3.7% while sales of Acura vehicles were up 20.8%.

Chrysler Group reported total U.S. sales for November of 63,560 units -- down 25% versus last November, although the company says it increased market share to 8.4%.

Starting on Tuesday, Chrysler started offering 0% for up to 60 months on Chrysler brand vehicles, plus $3,000 in customer cash. For the Dodge brand, Chrysler is offering 0% for up to 60 months, consumer cash of up to $2,500 and all-wheel drive at no cost with the purchase of a Dodge Charger.--Karl Greenberg