Sales details: November 2011

The Toyota Sienna took an 882-unit lead in the minivan race through the end of November. Slow sales of the Town & Country and the Caravan in the past two months opened the door and Toyota, with inventory returning close to normal levels, waltzed right through.

The Jeep Wrangler remained the best-selling traditional SUV in both monthly and year-to-date (YTD) sales. The Jeep Grand Cherokee made it to November’s Top 20 list. For the first eleven months of this year, Chrysler crossovers and SUVs are averaging more sales per model than those from General Motors.

Chrysler Group reached Sergio Marchionne’s 2011 goal of 1.2 million U.S. sales a month ahead of schedule. As of the end of November Chrysler had sold 1.45 million cars and trucks in the U.S. and Canada. The worldwide goal for Chrysler Group is two million sales in 2011.

Chrysler finished November solidly in fourth place. At the end of the first eleven months of 2010, Chrysler was ranked fifth and and had fallen as low as sixth. Industry analysts were figuring Nissan and possibly Hyundai-Kia would overtake Chrysler. Chrysler is now 289,488 YTD sales ahead of Nissan and 194,067 sales ahead of Hyundai-Kia and both Korean brands have been setting sales records for much of 2011.

For those who tout GM’s financial performance, it’s worth noting that Chrysler repaid its loans, in full, in cash, to the U.S. and Canadian governments. As of this morning, American taxpayers have lost over $16 billion on the stock GM used to meet its obligations.