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Dec. 5, 2013 – The Thanksgiving holiday weekend boosted vehicle sales in November, bringing them to 16.4 million annualized units compared with October's 15.2 million, according to a NAFCU Macro Data Flash.

NAFCU Senior Economist Curt Long analyzed data from Autodata Corp. for total vehicle sales, on a seasonally adjusted basis, in November. Long found that sales over the past year were up 7.1 percent and that five of the six largest automakers saw increases in year-over-year sales numbers. The biggest year-over-year increase was 16.1 percent for Chrysler; Honda saw a 0.1 percent decline in sales.

"Aggressive incentive programs over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend helped drive the high monthly sales numbers," Long wrote. "Pent up demand, low interest rates and a slowly improving labor market have all helped maintain positive year-over-year sales growth."

Car sales went up to 8.1 million annualized units in November from 7.6 million in October, and light trucks went up to 8.3 million in November compared with 7.6 million in October.

Long also found that the U.S. brand share of the total vehicle market decreased from 46 percent in October to 43.6 percent in November. The share of domestically assembled vehicles decreased from 78 percent to 76.7 percent over the same period.