Auto News 5

In December, the total U.S. auto market was up 11 percent, which also happens to be the percentage increase for the year overall. Actually, though, the final month of 2010 was even stronger than the year-over-year comparison suggests. Although the full-year result for 2010 was roughly 11.6 million vehicles, the annualized sales rate every month during the fourth quarter was better than 12 million units, so the pace definitely picked up as we came down the back stretch. The annualized selling rate for December was 12.6 million units, the fastest clip of the year.