September 2010 Auto Sales

HYUNDAI-KIA +44%
The Koreans enjoyed a robust increase over last September, and it allowed them to stay ahead of Nissan and maintain fifth place in the U.S. market. Looking at the year-prior comparisons, Hyundai looks better than Kia, but compared to month-prior figures, Kia actually did a little bit better.
Hyundai +48%
Not only did the new Sonata easily blow past last year's volume (+161%), it also slipped by the Honda Civic and very nearly broke into the Top 5 bestselling nameplates; it was just edged out by the Toyota Corolla/Matrix.
Kia +39%
Kia sold ten times as many of its new, redesigned Sorento as it did last year, making the Sorento easily the brand's bestselling nameplate. NISSAN NORTH AMERICA +34%
Nissan was able to outpace the industry, growing sales by more than a third. Infiniti didn't do quite as well, but it was not much affected by Cash-for-Clunkers a year ago, and thus it didn't have such a dead post-Clunkers September.
Nissan +35%
Unlike many others, Nissan saw a bigger increase in the sales of its cars than its trucks. The Frontier looked good (+80%) but the Titan was weak (+9%). The Altima did well (+65%), but still was outsold by the Sonata. The Cube had Nissan's biggest drop versus year-ago (-32%), but was up 60% over last month.
Infiniti +26%
All Infiniti models beat last year, but none by a bigger margin than the new M (+227%). VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA +14%
VW +15%
The Golf and friends had VW's biggest gain (+253%) but then it was coming off a big post-Clunkers trough. The not-so-New Beetle (-39%) was the biggest decliner.
Audi +13% Q5 sales doubled, putting Audi's popular crossover within striking range of becoming the brand's bestseller, as the A4/S4 fell back slightly (-18%).
Bentley -2% BMW NORTH AMERICA 23,138 +21%
BMW +21%
The X5's new engine's powered it to a big sales increase (+161%), with the X6 not far behind (+122%). The 3-series also gained (+37%) but the 1-series dropped (-24%).
Mini +18%
Mini enjoyed an uptick ahead of a freshening coming this fall.
Rolls-Royce -4%
Steady as she goes: Rolls-Royce delivered 26 cars in September, versus 27 last September, and 26 in August.