Demand for Detroit Three trucks drives U.S. vehicle sales in October

The top three selling vehicles in the U.S. last month all belonged to the Detroit Three automakers, and all were pickup trucks.

DETROIT, MI - The top three selling vehicles in the U.S. last month all belonged to the Detroit Three automakers, and all were pickup trucks. 

The Associated Press broke down the top-selling vehicles in October as manufacturers reported their results Monday. 

The Ford F-Series trucks took the top spot with a volume of 63,410 units sold, a 0.6 percent decline from October 2013. Ford's own 2 percent sales dip in October was blamed on the Dearborn company readying for the roll-out of the all-new, 2015 Ford F-150. 

Taking second place was General Motors' Chevrolet Silverado, which sold 49,966 units for an annual increase of 10.1 percent. Rounding out the top three was Chrysler Group's Ram Pickup, which sold 39,834 units. 

Those three models were followed respectively by the Toyota Camry, Honda CR-V, Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla, Ford Escape, Chevrolet Cruze and Honda Civic.

In terms of overall sales performance Chrysler led the Detroit Three in October with a 22 percent gain. Here's a closer look at how each automaker fared last month:

Chrysler

Chrysler Group posted its best October since 2001.

Similar to September, last month's sales got a boost from the Jeep brand, which saw its sales jump 52 percent year-over-year last month, and making it the best October ever for Jeep. Sales of Jeep easily offset an 8 percent decline for the Dodge brand.

Last month was also the best sales month on record for sales of the Jeep Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler, Chrysler 200, Dodge Challenger and Dodge Dart vehicles.

Overall, Chrysler Group has now had year-over-year sales gains for 55 straight months.

"Chrysler Group sales increased 22 percent in October, our eighth month of double-digit growth this year and our 55th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains," Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales, said in a statement. "Chrysler Group is the industry's fastest-growing automaker driven in part by sales of our all-new Jeep Cherokee and Chrysler 200 mid-size sedan, and by the strong consumer demand for our award-winning Ram pickup trucks." 

Ford

Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales dipped 1.7 percent to 188,654 units in October. The Dearborn company said the expected decline was due to plant changeover for the introduction of the all-new, 2015 Ford F-150 pickup.

Sales increases were driven by the Fusion, Escape, Explorer and Transit Connect models.

For the Fusion, October was a record month, with 22,846 units sold, a rise of 5 percent year-over-year.

"Fusion is an outstanding success story with October marking six straight months of record sales," John Felice, Ford vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said in a statement. "Fusion is on pace to break the 300,000-vehicle mark this year for the first time ever. Plus, based on the strong
sales of the all-new MKC, Lincoln produced its best sales results in October since 2007."

Escape, too, had its best-ever October performance, with a rise of 11 percent on annual basis to 24,919 vehicles sold. Explorer sales were up 6 percent to 14,455 units, marking the SUV's best performance since 2004. Sales of the Transit Connect vans were up 28 percent to an October record of 4,068 units sold.

But the Ford brand's sales were pulled down in part by declines of 9.1 percent for the Focus (at 13,733 units), of 16.3 percent for the Fiesta (at 3,629 units) and of 34.0 percent for the Mustang (at 4,565 units). Sales of the Edge also fell 16.8 percent to 7,225 units.

Total Ford brand sales were down 2.7 percent year-over-year to 179,771 units in October.

They were offset by sales of the Lincoln brand vehicles, which grew 25 percent to 8,883 vehicles sold, marking Lincoln's best October since 2007. The brand's strong result stemmed entirely from SUVs, with the introduction of the MKC helping to boost Lincoln utilities sales by 77.1 percent. Lincoln car sales, which include the MKZ and MKS models, fell by 20.8 percent to 3,032 units.

GM

General Motors' total sales in the U.S. last month were flat at 226,819 units, but it marked the Detroit automaker's best October since 2007. 

The Silverado was the brand's largest seller by volume, and its sales were up 10.1 percent with 46,966 units delivered. Sales of the GMC Sierra grew 12.5 percent. The brand's largest seller by volume, Sierra sales were able to offset declines of 7.5 percent for the Acadia model and of 14.0 percent for the Terrain. 

A decline of 8.0 percent for the Cadillac brand was offset by a slight rise for Chevrolet and a 6.5 percent increase for the Buick brand. 

Buick had its best October in more than a decade, with the Enclave, LaCrosse and Encore models all posting year-over-year gains. Sales of the Chevrolet brand were driven by the Cruze, Silverado, Traverse and Equinox models.

"The U.S. economy has steadily improved all year and now we are poised for a stronger expansion backed by an improved job market, higher consumer confidence and lower fuel prices," Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of sales operations, said in a statement. "We have a strong hand to play, with the industry's newest and most complete line-up of pickups and SUVs, class-leading crossovers like the Buick Encore and a wealth of new products in the pipeline."