Sales of Volkswagen's Atlas SUV climbed 4.8 percent in September over a year ago, though VW's total vehicles sold in the U.S. fell last month along with most other car companies.
Sales of the Chattanooga-made Atlas, which hit 4,291 vehicles in the month, coupled with the all-new Tiguan SUV accounted for 37 percent of the German brand's sales last month, according to Volkswagen of America.
"SUV sales continue to expand VW's reach with consumers," said Derrick Hatami, executive vice president of sales, marketing and after sales for Volkswagen of America.
But VW's overall sales of 30,555 units dropped 4.8 percent versus September 2017, the company reported on Tuesday.
September sales were hurt by delays in certification caused by a backlog in meeting new worldwide testing standards, the automaker said. The delays pushed back the arrival of some model year 2019 vehicles and limited inventory.
Nissan Group for North America, based in Franklin, Tenn., and with an assembly plant in Smyrna, posted U.S. sales for September of 122,819 units, off 12 percent.
The decrease came despite combined sales of Nissan crossovers, trucks and SUVs setting a September record, up 6 percent.
General Motors Co., which has an assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., reported 694,638 new vehicle deliveries for the third quarter, down 11.1 percent compared to the same period in 2017.
GM, which doesn't report monthly sales numbers, said the third quarter of 2017 included pent-up demand and replacement demand following Hurricane Harvey that swept through Texas. This September, the automaker experienced a negative weather-related impact associated with Hurricane Florence.
However, Fiat Chrysler put up a 15 percent increase in U.S. sales, helped by its Jeep and Ram brands.
Ford's U.S. sales were down 11.2 percent in September over a year ago to 197,404 vehicles.