Auto sales pick up in November

GM sales in November were up 21 percent compared with a year earlier. Ford was up 24 percent, Chrysler 17 percent, Honda 21 percent, Nissan 27 percent. Toyota was the only major automaker to post a decline. Industry-wide, the November numbers translate to an annual selling pace of about 12.2 million, a little higher than October. That's still way down from the 16-17 million range right before the recession, but it's a noticeable improvement over 2008 and 2009 - and one more sign that the economy is picking up. From the NYT:

"Consumers are still cautious," said Jim Bunnell, a G.M. executive who oversees the company's dealer network and sales, "but we're starting to see people show an inclination to come back into dealerships and go back into malls. As we go into 2011, we're going to continue to see a nice improvement."