UPDATED 10:04 a.m. EDT: Chrysler said Tuesday its U.S. sales rose nearly 12 percent last month — its best September in five years, while Ford posted flat U.S. sales on lower demand for trucks. Chrysler said its increase was due to new models, low interest rates and a stable U.S. economy.
The results mean that Americans kept buying new cars and trucks at a strong pace last month. Chrysler predicts an annual sales rate of 14.9 million for the U.S. industry in September, which would make it the best month of the year.
Chrysler sold 142,000 vehicles, led by the Dodge Avenger midsize sedan, which saw sales jump 89 percent from a year earlier.
Chrysler and Ford were the first automakers to report sales on Tuesday.
Ford's truck sales fell 7.6 percent, largely because of the discontinuation of the Ranger small pickup. The Ranger was a strong seller last September. Sales of the F-Series large pickup were up 1 percent over last year.
Ford said sales of SUVs were up 8.7 percent. The new Ford Escape small SUV saw a 14.5 percent jump and the Explorer large SUV was up 19 percent.
Car sales were up 1.6 percent, led by strong sales of the Ford Focus. Sales of the outgoing Fusion midsize sedan dropped 37 percent as Ford began shipping a new version of the Fusion to dealerships.
U.S. industry sales in September, including medium and heavy trucks, were estimated to reach a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 14.9 million, Chrysler said. Typically, medium and heavy trucks add around 300,000 vehicles to the sales rate, suggesting a 14.6 million pace for the month.
That would be slightly higher than analysts' forecasts of a 14.5 million sales pace in September, according to a Reuters poll. Attractive financing offers, cash incentives on trucks and pent-up demand fueled September sales.
Last month, incentives on trucks averaged more than $3,000 a vehicle compared with $1,888 for cars, according to TrueCar.com.
"Going forward with our current product lineup, record-low interest rates and a stable U.S. economy, we remain optimistic about the health of the U.S. new vehicle sales industry and our position in it," Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales for Chrysler, said in a statement.
Sales of the company's new Dodge Dart, introduced earlier this year, continue to rise. Chrysler said it sold 5,235 Darts in September, a 72-percent jump from August.
Fiat brand sales totaled 4,176, the highest monthly mark ever in the United States, Chrysler said.
