GM, Toyota sales up in strong November for auto industry

GM, Toyota sales up in strong November for auto industry

General Motors’ sales rose 1.5 percent over last November, while Toyota and Fiat Chrysler’s each saw 3 percent sales gains.

VW’s U.S. sales plummeted almost 25 percent, hurt by the company’s admission that its diesel vehicles cheated on emissions tests.

November was a notoriously slow sales month until about five years ago, when car dealers joined other retailers in promoting Black Friday, according to Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell.

Deals can be dangerous for the auto industry because they cut into profits and lower vehicles’ resale value.

[...] Eric Lyman, vice president for industry insights at TrueCar, says the gradual increase isn’t a worrisome trend for the industry.

Rising interest rates, higher gas prices and other factors are all expected to stall auto sales sometime in the next few years.

In a sign of the impact of lower gas prices, sales of the RAV4 SUV jumped nearly 30 percent while Prius hybrid sales were down 10 percent.

A 10 percent increase in F-Series pickup sales couldn’t overcome lower sales of key vehicles like the Escape SUV and Fusion sedan.

Truck and SUV sales jumped 15 percent, but Leaf electric car sales dropped 60 percent.