A rash of airbag recalls in October hasn't deterred car shoppers. Sales from seven largest automakers gained 5.8 percent in October, leading to an annualized rate that should top 16 million cars for the eighth month in a row. Among the top 10 sellers, two new compacts enter the list — the Toyota Corolla and the Chevrolet Cruze. The Ford Fusion and Toyota RAV4, despite sales increases, are off.
Related: October's Fastest- and Slowest-Selling Cars
Mammoth gains from its Jeep and Ram divisions lifted Fiat Chrysler Automobiles up 21.7 percent to lead the Big Seven in sales gains. The Ram pickup gained 33.5 percent despite no sizeable change in incentives over the year-ago month, and that was versus a pretty good October 2013. It's possible the pickup snatched a number of truck shoppers who didn't want to buy the outgoing Ford F-150. September's strong housing starts, which typically feed pickup sales, provided a boost, too. F-Series sales slipped as truck shoppers await the redesigned 2015 F-150, which arrives later this year, but the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra combined to gain 10.8 percent.
Here are the top 10 best-selling cars in October:
Elsewhere, the Jeep Cherokee — now in its first full year of sales — was FCA's second-best-selling car with nearly 16,000 sales in October. Jeep's success tracks with a lot of other SUVs. Consider some popular models that weren't recently redesigned: The Ford Escape was up 12 percent; the Honda CR-V boomed 29.7 percent. Even the age-old Chevrolet Equinox gained 2.6 percent.
Why? Gas prices fell in October to their lowest point since 2010. Shoppers piled into SUVs and trucks, with full-size pickup sales gaining 9.1 percent despite the F-Series malaise. Conversely, the Toyota Prius — ever the reliable indicator of popularity for fuel-efficient cars — fell 13.5 percent, even as Toyota threw more cash on the hood versus year-ago levels.
GM sales were flat, but shoppers flocked toward the Chevrolet Cruze, which jumped 51 percent versus a bad October 2013. That's despite no big shift with incentives or inventory. Shoppers preferred the Cruze over the rival Ford Focus (down 9.1 percent, though with decreased incentives) as well as the Honda Civic and Hyundai Elantra, which both fell double-digit percentages despite significantly more incentives. Among the most popular compacts, only the Toyota Corolla (up 5.6 percent) also saw gains.
Did lower gas prices drive some of those shoppers toward bigger models? It's hard to say. The Toyota Camry gained 13.8 percent as a restyled 2015 model hit dealerships, and the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion each gained 5 percent or more. Meanwhile, the Chevy Malibu (down 29.3 percent) and Hyundai Sonata (down 21.7 percent) fell, but both had very strong year-ago months.
It's still a good time to buy a new car — or used car, for that matter. Flat MSRPs and rising incentives kept transaction prices falling, and the average new car in early October sold for $32,528, according to CNW Research. That's down 1.2 percent compared to October 2013, and it's the biggest year-over-year drop since June. Entering the month, used-car prices fell, too: Manheim's used-price index fell in September to a 14-month low.
Cars.com photo by Evan Sears
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