Hamilton County pickup sales jump in September

photo A 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 4WD LTZ Crew Cab pickup truck is on display at Miami Lakes AutoMall in Miami Lakes, Fla. General Motors' U.S. sales jumped 19 percent in September on big demand for its pickup trucks.

Hamilton County September sales* Cars - 527 units sold in 2014, down from 547 units in 2013* Trucks - 632 units sold in 2014, up from 527 in 2013Source: Hamilton County Clerk's Office vehicle licenses

Big discounts on pickup trucks kept U.S. auto sales strong in September.

U.S. auto sales in the third quarter were the best in eight years despite some slowdown from the industry's torrid summer pace. According to research firm Autodata, industry sales in September rose 9 percent, to 1.24 million vehicles.

The annualized sales rate slowed to 16.4 million, according to Autodata, above last year's 15.4 million, but well below the 17.5 million pace in August.

"The rate of growth in industry sales is beginning to moderate," Ford chief economist Emily Kolinski Morris said on a conference call. "We are getting closer to what would be a likely plateau in terms of the industry sales pace."

General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group led the industry with 19 percent sales increases over last September while Nissan enjoyed a healthy 18.5 percent gain over last year during September.

GM continued its dominance in large SUVs last month. The company reported that 80 percent of individual buyers of large SUVs in September went with a GM model. Sales of the Chevrolet Suburban were up 50 percent compared with a year ago, and the GMC Yukon nearly doubled its volume. The Chevy Tahoe posted a more modest gain, up 7 percent.

"This sets us up to finish the year on a very strong note," said Kurt McNeil, GM's U.S. vice president for sales operations, in a statement.

Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst at Edmunds.com, said GM should "feel good about how it closed out the quarter," particularly with its trucks and SUVs.

Chrysler's numbers -- the increase was the company's 54th consecutive month of year-over-year gains -- were powered once again by its trucks, with Ram pickup sales up 30 percent, their best September ever. The factory that builds the Ram pickups, in Warren, Michigan, recently announced it would increase production by 100 trucks a day to meet demand; the plant has already been working 20 hours a day, six days a week.

The company's Jeep brand also continued to soar in September; its 47 percent sales gains were also a record for the month.

Overall, according to Automotive News, sales of new cars and trucks were up 9 percent over a year ago.

Despite the overall gain, however, sales of the Chattanooga-made Volkswagen Passat continued to lag last year's results.

VW said its sold 7,280 of its Chattanooga-made Passat cars during September, or 7.8 percent less than in the same month a year ago. In the first three quarters of 2014, Passat sales were down 11.1 percent from the same period in 2013.

In September, the Passat TDI, the only clean diesel in the midsize sedan segment, delivered 1,720 sales or 23.6 percent of the total Passat volume.

Overall, Volkswagen sales are off 14 percent this year -- the biggest drop of any major auto maker.

While August sales were fueled by incentives on midsize cars, September saw good deals on pickup trucks for most U.S. car makers. The second half of the year is usually stronger for pickup sales, and stable gas prices, employment gains and higher consumer confidence bodes well for automakers this year.

GM and Chrysler took advantage of Ford, which has temporarily closed a truck factory to retool for its new aluminum-clad F-150. Ford cut back on discounts in order to keep more trucks in stock during the shutdown.

As a result, GM said its light-duty Silverado outsold Ford's F-150 for the first month since 2011.

Chattanooga car dealers also enjoyed a 10.1 percent gain in truck sales last month over September 2013 levels. But local car sales were down by 3.7 percent compared with year-ago levels.

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