Carmakers Report ‘Blockbuster’ December Sales

The country’s largest automakers reported strong December sales after a few mediocre months in 2014, with General Motors and Chrysler reporting better-than-expected months for vehicle rollouts.

General Motors said Monday that its December sales jumped 19.3%, calling it a “blockbuster” month that pulled its full-year sales up a total of 5.3%. Chevrolet, GM’s biggest brand, saw skyrocketing sales of its full-size Silverado pickup, which were up 35.8%.

Chrysler Group’s new-vehicle sales were the best in a decade, USA Today reports, and its full-year sales were the best since 2006, up 16.1%. Nissan’s sales were up 6.9% and Honda was up 1.5%.

“Everything you need to have a great month was in place: Consumers felt good about the direction of the economy, interest rates and fuel prices were low, and our dealers did a great job introducing” a range of new and redesigned models, said Kurt McNeil, GM’s U.S. vice president of sales operations.