October 2012 Sales: Saying Goodbye to the Summer Surge with Sandy’s Storms

All good things will eventually come to an end. Such is the case with the October sales month, a clear signal that the summer sales months that culminated with record sales abound were gone and will return with the budding of new leaves, melting of snow, and temperatures greater than 60 degrees at night in Southern California.

Most automakers have used their momentum to keep sales strong, like Honda, which topped the 1 million vehicle mark—nearly 200,000 units up over this time last year; it was sidelined last year after the tsunami that devastated Japan. But Hurricane nee Superstorm Sandy let its presence be felt, too, as northeast dealerships lost their most important sales days amid saturation, storms, and destruction. Nissan, whose sales are most abundant in the Northeast, suffered a 3.2-percent decline. Ironically enough, Nissan was largely unaffected by the earthquakes in Asia last year.

Storms might have sidelined sales, but they hardly destroyed October. Here are the highlights for the first full month of fall, weather, economy, politics, and all.