2011 U.S. Sales: Detroit's Big 3 and Koreans Report Strong Gains, Honda and Toyota Feel the Pinch

In the year that just ended, some automakers have a lot to be grateful for while others including Japan’s biggest car brands would rather forget due to the Tsunami as well as the Thailand floods that significantly hurt their production lines during 2011.

Starting with the American carmakers, General Motors saw its U.S. sales rise 13.7 percent last year to 2,503,820 units. Chevrolet led the way with 1,775,812 units (+13.4%) followed by GMC at 397,986 (+18.8%), Buick at 177,633 (+14.3%) and Cadillac at 152,389 (+3.7%).

The Ford Group sold 2,148,806 vehicles in the States in 2011, up 11 percent over 2010, of which 2,062,915 units (+17.4%) are attributed to the Ford brand, 85,643 (-0.2%) to Lincoln and 248 cars to the now defunct Mercury nameplate.

The Chrysler Group (including Fiat) reported U.S. sales of 1.37 million units in 2011, up 26 percent versus sales in 2010. The Chrysler brand sold 221,346 vehicles (+12%), the Dodge brand 451,040 (+18%), the Jeep brand 419,349 (+44%), the Ram Brand 257,610 (+21%) while Fiat delivered 19,769 cars in its first year in the U.S.

Hyundai reported sales of 645,691 vehicles, up 20 percent versus 2010, while its sister company Kia sold 485,492 units, an impressive increase of 36.3-percent over the previous year.

The Toyota group reported annual sales of 1,644,661 vehicles, down 7.0 percent from the same period in 2010. The Toyota brand delivered 1,396,837 (-6%) cars and trucks, while Lexus saw its sales decrease by 13.4 percent to 198,552 units. Scion reported sales of 49,271 units for the year, up 7.9 percent on a volume basis.

The Honda group’s 2011 annual vehicle sales totaled 1,147,285, a decrease of 7.1 percent compared to 2010. Honda brand’s 2011 annual sales of 1,023,986 decreased 6.9 percent compared to the previous year, while Acura’s 123,299 sales were down 8.0 percent.

In 2011, the Nissan brand achieved a record, with sales of 944,073 units a 17.3 percent increase over 2010, however, its Infiniti sales of 98,461 in 2011 were down 4.8 percent compared to the 103,411 units sold during 2010.

Subaru sold 266,989 units (+1.20%), Mazda 250,426 vehicles (+9.1%) and Mitsubishi 79,020 units (+41.4%).