WARREN - Local buyers purchased 19 fewer new automobiles in November than they did a year ago, according to numbers released Tuesday for tri-county auto sales.
Dealers in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties sold 1,733 new automobiles last month, compared to 1,752 sold in November 2011, the Automobile Dealers Association of Eastern Ohio reported.
Year-to-date, dealers are down more than 3 percent, or 775 new vehicle sales in the tri-county area.
Austintown's Bob & Chuck Eddy Chrysler Dodge Jeep maintained its edge as leading new-car seller in the tri-county area, with buyers taking delivery on 91 new cars last month. The Honda Store in Boardman ranked second in the area, selling 86 new cars, Greenwood Chevrolet in Austintown sold 83, and Fred Martin Ford Mercedes, also in Austintown, sold 76 new vehicles, and Sweeney Chevrolet sold 73.
The top eight dealerships for new car sales were located in Mahoning County.
Trumbull County's leading new car seller was Sims Buick GMC Nissan, which jumped 70 percent to 63 last month from 37 in November 2011.
Apostolakis Honda, Trumbull's No. 2 new car seller last month, also saw a significant increase of 42 percent to 61 from 43 a year ago. Diane Sauer Chevrolet finished in third place for the county, selling 53 new vehicles, one fewer than in November 2011.
While November's tri-county used car sales lagged about 3 percent behind last year's numbers, 3,106 to 3,209, the 2012 year-to-date figures are outpacing comparable numbers for 2011, 38,398 to 37,638.
Greenwood Chevrolet led the tri-county used car sales with 128, Donnell Ford and Fred Martin Ford Mercedes each sold 70 used cars.
Chevrolet remained the top-selling local make, with the Lordstown-built Cruze outpacing all other models. Statistics show 90 Cruzes were sold locally in November, down about 22 percent from last November. The Chevy Silverado 1500 full-size pickup truck ranked second in local sales at 73 and the Chevy Equinox came in third with buyers taking delivery on 67 vehicles.