On a year-to-date basis, September sales were up 14.5 percent from last year, according to Autodata Corp. Year over year, sales were up 12.8 percent, while the seasonally adjusted annual rate reached 14.94 million units — the best monthly SAAR this year. The big winner was Volkswagen, but Toyota and Honda also realized major sales gains vs. a year ago

Audi: The German automaker posted a September sales record, increases sales vs. a year ago by 26.5 percent to 12,302 units sold. On a year-to-date basis, Audi sales increased 18.5 vs. 2011, with 100,694 units sold. The marque set its third-best month of U.S. sales in Audi of America’s history.

BMW: The BMW Group sold 26,660 units in September, up 3.5 percent from September 2011. On a year-to-date basis, sales were up 7.1 percent, with 234,928 units sold so far this year. BMW brand sales were relatively flat, with only a 0.1 percent increase vs. a year ago, with 21,761 units retailed for the month.

Chrysler: The domestic automaker realized its best sales month in five years, recording a 12 percent increase vs. a year ago. Sales for September totaled 142,041 units. Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram truck and FIAT brands all realized sales gains vs. a year ago, with FIAT realizing the greatest gain with a 51 percent increase in sales. September’s sales records marked the thirtieth straight of year-over-year sales gains.

Ford: Total U.S. sales for the company were unchanged from a year ago, but were up 5.6 percent on year-to-date basis. Sales in September totaled 174,976 units and nearly 1.7 million year to date. Car sales were up 1.6 percent, utilities jumped 8.7 percent, and total truck sales dropped by 7.6 percent.

General Motors: GM posted its highest September sales since 2008, with sales totaling 210,245 units — a 1.5 percent rise from a year ago. Passenger cars realized a 29 percent sales increase vs. a year ago. All of GM’s brands increased their retail sales – Chevy by 32.5 percent, GMC up 1.3 percent, Buick rose 10 percent and Cadillac climbed 1.2 percent.

Truck sales, however, dropped by 20 percent, which the company attributing the decrease to a 46 percent year-over-year reduction in fleet sales.

Honda: The Japanese carmaker posted a 30.9 percent sales gain in September vs. a year ago, with 117,211 units sold. The Honda division accounted for 102,845 vehicles, up 29.3 percent from September 2011, while Acura’s sales totaled 14,366 units, up 43.5 percent from the same period last year.

Top sellers included the Accord, with 29,182 units retailed, representing a 56.6 percent increase from a year ago. Civic sales were up 57 percent, with 21,546 units sold, while the CR-V set a new September record with sales increasing 13.6 percent from a year ago to 22,268 units.

Hyundai: The Korean automaker set a number of records in September, with 60,025 units sold for the month. That equated to a 15 percent sales increase from a year ago and a 10 percent increase on a year-to-date basis, which drove the carmaker to its best September sales month in its history. Hyundai also broke the 60,000-unit benchmark for its seventh straight month, and realized its twenty-fifth-straight month of year-over-year monthly sales increases.

Mazda: The automaker reported a 5.4 percent drop in sales vs. a year ago, with sales for September totaling 24,135 units. On a year-to-date basis, Mazda’s sales were up 9.5 percent, with 209,482 units sold. The Mazda3 realized a 57.1 percent increase vs. September 2011, with 14,031 units sold. The company reported that its SKYACTIV technology accounted for 67.4 percent of its monthly sales and 84 percent of the Mazda3 sales in September.

Mitsubishi: Total sales for the manufacturer were down 17.2 percent from a year ago 4,806 units sold. Sales of the Outlander Sport spiked 49 percent compared to a year ago, with 2,253 units sold. That marked the model’s best ever sales month since it hit the market two years ago.

Nissan: Down by 1.1 percent from last September, Nissan sales totaled 91,907 units in September. While the Nissan division posted sales of 82.462 units, down 2.4 percent from one year ago, the Infiniti brand realized an 11.4 percent increase with 9,445 units sold. Top Nissan sellers were the Pathfinder, up 38.7 percent over last year, the Nissan Rogue, which set a new volume record for September with 12,106 units sold, and the Nissan LEAF, which realized its highest volume sales month this year with 984 units sold. Infiniti’s total sales were the best since 2007, and marked the fifth consecutive month of double-digit sales gains.

Toyota: September’s totals were up 41.5 percent vs. a year ago to 171,910 units sold. On a year-to-date basis, Toyota Motor Co. posted a 31.6 percent sales increase with 1.57 million units sold. The Toyota division sold 85,642 units for the month, up 47.1 percent from last year, Lexus sales rose 35.7 percent to 12,020 vehicles sold, and Scion recorded a 75.7 percent sales increase from last year with 6,743 units sold. Hybrids realized a 120.6 percent increase vs. a year ago, with 26,747 sold units.

The Camry and Camry hybrid topped the list of best-selling models, up 38 percent from last year in the same period. Combined sales totaled 34,252 vehicles.

Volkswagen: Volkswagen had its best sales year since 1972, with 36,663 units sold, up 34.4 percent from September 2011 and 37.2 percent year-to-date. The carmaker also realized its twenty-fifth-consecutive month of year-over-year growth. The Passat and Tiguan each reported record sales for September, rolling 9,500 and 2,202 units, respectively.