Record auto sales in December and for 2015

Record auto sales in December and for 2015

New auto sales ended the year with a bang, setting an all-time record at 17.47 million. (The previous record was set in 2000, at 17.4 million.) Thank low gas prices, low interest rates, continuing pent-up demand, an improved labor market and some very good deals. Sales saw their 11th monthly increase for the year.

–Itês truly remarkable that the auto industry is finishing off its best year ever just six years after the depths of the Great Recession,” said analyst Jessica Caldwell of Edmunds.com.

Just about every automaker –except Volkswagen– increased sales. Ford and Fiat Chrysler saw their best sales year in at least nine years. General Motorsê sales were up 5 percent for the year. Toyotaês 2015 sales rose 12 percent, Nissanês 7 percent and Honda and Acura, combined, up 3 percent.

Volkswagenês sales dropped 5 percent for the year not as much as might have been expected, considering that diesel normally makes up about 25 percent of its U.S. sales.

Average transaction prices continued to climb, especially among luxury models, said Akshay Anand, analyst for Kelley Blue Book. ATP for the month was $34,428, up 0.9 percent from a year earlier.