DETROIT — Fans of SUVs and trucks shoved car buyers aside last month, helping propel sales in October to levels not seen since the start of the year.
The shift was a boon for Detroit’s automakers, who posted sizeable increases in sales of pickups such as the Chevy Silverado and Dodge Ram, big SUVs like the Ford Explorer and compact models like the Ford Escape.
While sales of cars lost momentum from earlier in the year, some carmakers, including Hyundai and Volkswagen, continue to post impressive numbers and steal away their share of small car sales. Toyota and Honda, for years the category leaders, continued to struggle with earthquake-related shortages of popular models.
U.S. car and truck sales were expected to top 1 million in October, a surprising number for a month when sales are usually slow. Sales are now tracking at a pace similar to the start of this year, before the March earthquake and tsunami cut off supplies. Analysts expect them to stay at that pace through the rest of this year and into next year.
“The economy isn’t expected to pick up significantly, and I think that’s going to hold us in this pattern of slow growth, stability to slow growth,” said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive.
Pent-up demand helped October sales. Inventories of Japanese cars are getting close to normal. Car shoppers who spent the summer waiting for them to reappear on dealer lots could finally buy them in October.
Honda sales were flat compared to last October, while Toyota’s sales fell 8 percent. That still beat the double-digit drops the companies saw over the summer. Sales of the Accord sedan, Honda’s best seller, were up 5 percent. Toyota said sales of its Yaris more than doubled.
Schuster said it could still take a little while for the companies to post year-over-year gains. Besides the lingering effects of the Japan earthquake, Honda has issues in Thailand, where flooding shut down its suppliers. That forced the company to cut North American production through Nov. 10.
Deals inspired some buyers last month. Auto information site TrueCar.com said Honda raised its incentives by 18 percent to an average of $2,380 per vehicle, while Nissan’s incentives were up 15 percent to $2,917. “This is the time of the year when consumers are more dialed in to the deals,” said Jesse Toprak, TrueCar’s vice president of industry trends and insights.
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