Valley car sales up over May ’11

Staff report

youngstown

Sales of new and used cars in the Mahoning Valley continue to outpace the previous year’s by more than 400 sales.

Through May, 5,415 cars were sold in Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties, according to Automobile Dealers of Eastern Ohio Inc. statistics released Monday.

By this point of 2011, there had been 4,981 vehicles sold.

Greenwood Chevrolet leads the area in sales but remains down 227 compared with its pace in 2011 and sold 20 fewer cars in May 2012 than May 2011.

The other dealerships in the top five for the month posted increases compared with the previous May.

The top companies in terms of sales for May were Greenwood Chevrolet, 235; Taylor Kia, 210; Sweeney Chevrolet, 174; Bob & Chuck Eddy Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, 156; and Sweeney Buick GMC, 155.

New-car sales within the three counties also are up for the year.

There were 2,088 new vehicles sold by the end of May this year compared with 1,841 through May 2011, an increase of 217.

All of the five top-selling dealerships had more sales this May than the previous year.

The top dealerships and their sales were Greenwood Chevrolet, 141; Taylor Kia, 129; Sweeney Chevrolet, 113; Bob & Chuck Eddy Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, 111; and Spitzer Autoworld Lordstown, 87.

The top three new models sold in the area were all Chevrolets.

Chevrolet Malibu, the most-popular new vehicle in the area, has seen sales drop by 417 through the end of May.

The figure for the month rebounded, increasing from 128 in May 2011 to 172 this year.

The Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze is the second-highest selling new car locally but is down 332 sales for the year and dropped eight sales in the month of May.

The three next highest-selling new vehicles were the Chevrolet Equinox, 81; Ford Escape, 79; and in a tie for fifth, the Ford F-150 and Ford Fusion at 63.