Domestic Automakers See Higher Sales in January

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Auto sales increased in January for all three domestic automakers, with General Motors Co. reporting the biggest increase, up 18%.

Sales of GM’s Chevrolet Cruze, built in Lordstown, were up 11.1% in January from a year earlier with 18,693 units sold across the country.

The car was Chevy’s third-best selling vehicle behind the Silverado – 36,106 units sold, a nearly 25% increase – and the Equinox – 19,555 sold, a 34.4% increase. As a brand, Chevrolet sold 142,882 cars, trucks and SUVs in January, a 20% rise from a year ago, GM reported today.

For other General Motors brands, Cadillac sales rose 2.6% to 11,680 units, GMC 35,671 trucks and SUVs for a 28.6% increase, but Buick sales declined 5.5% with 12,553 sold. Last month was the company’s best January in seven years, GM said.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reports that sales of its brands rose 14% in January with 145,007 units sold, the most for the month since 2007. Chrysler sales were up 11% in January to 23,393 cars behind a 30% jump in sales from the 200 model, totaling 14,157 cars sold.

Roughly 51,500 Jeeps were sold last month, a 23% increase from January 2014. The off-road brand’s top-selling car was the Cherokee, which moved 15,154 units out of showrooms last month, a 44% increase.

Dodge models saw just a 1% increase in sales in January with 35,347 cars and SUVs sold and the compact Dart leading all models with 8,136 units shipped, a 61% increase from January 2014.

Sales of Rams, the truck line spun off from Dodge, were up 21% with 31,392 trucks sold. Of the brand’s four models, the standard Ram Pickup was the top seller, with 28,618 sold.

Ford Motor Co.’s sales climbed 15.3% with 178,351 units shipped. Sales of Ford were 15.5% higher — 171,732 sold in January — with the Escape coming in as the top seller with 20,054 of the SUVs leaving showrooms, a 3.1% increase from the same month a year ago. The top selling car was the Fusion with 19,694 sold, a 4.9% decrease from january 2014. Mustang sales skyrocketed 124% from a year before with 8,694 cars sold in January.

Sales of Lincolns climbed 10.8% to 6,619 luxury cars and SUVs sold in January, behind a 144.3% increase in sales of the Navigator, of which 916 were sold. The only other Lincoln model with a sales increase in January was the MKS, which had 645 sold, 10 more than January 2014.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.

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