DETROIT — Strong sales in December capped off a great year for U.S. carmakers — especially Chrysler — and 2012 should be even better.
For their biggest Japanese rivals, a year of natural disasters and other struggles ended on a sour note, with U.S. sales falling and the outlook for the next year just as challenging.
Chrysler, in the midst of a comeback after its 2009 trip through bankruptcy court, said Wednesday that sales surged 37 percent in December and 26 percent for all of 2011. Demand was particularly strong for the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 200. Chrysler catapulted itself ahead of Honda as the fourth-largest automaker by sales in the U.S.
General Motors and Ford ended the year with more modest double-digit percentage gains. Analysts say U.S. car sales rose for the second year in a row as buyers’ confidence in the economy picked up, their aging vehicles wore down and their ability to take out cheap loans improved.
U.S. auto sales rose 10 percent to 12.8 million in 2011. That’s up 22 percent from 2009, when the U.S. auto industry and the financial system were in peril.
