WARREN - The Lordstown built Chevy Cruze was the tri-county area's top selling vehicle in September, statistics released Friday afternoon show.
Area dealers in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties sold 129 new Cruzes in September, about three more than in September 2011. The Cruze outsold the number two best local seller, the Chevy Silverado pickup truck, by 19. Auto dealers sold 110 new Silverados last month.
Overall, total new vehicle sales at area dealerships continued to slide last month, with just 1,924 new vehicles being sold in September, about 176 fewer than last year at this time and about 409 fewer than the previous month.
The Automobile Dealers Association of Eastern Ohio released the sales figures Friday. Statistics show 2,100 new vehicles were sold in the same area in September 2011.
Greenwood Chevrolet in Austintown remained the leading new vehicle seller in the area, selling 120 last month, but slipped from its September 2011 sales of 127.
Taylor Kia ranked second, with 103 new vehicles sold this last month; Bob and Chuck Eddy Chrysler in Austintown ranked third, selling 102; Sweeney Chevrolet came in fourth, selling 80 autos and Stadium GM Superstore sold 74 for fifth place.
Compared with last year's numbers, Bob and Chuck Eddy topped the list in September 2011, with 139 new vehicle sales, and in 2011 Taylor Kia had sold 110 vehicles.
Among Trumbull County dealers, Apostolakis Honda-Mazda topped the list, selling 70 new autos in September.
Greenwood also led the area in used vehicle sales, with 99 last month. That number also was up from the previous September, when that dealership sold 82 used vehicles, but ranked third. The top seller of used vehicles in September 2011 was Donnell Ford, which sold 97.
Other hot sellers locally included the Chevy Traverse, in third place among new vehicles at 62 sold, the Chevy Malibu in fourth place with 61 new cars sold and the Chevrolet Equinox with 60 sold.