10 Best Selling Cars in America: December 2011

In December, the holidays have sent car shoppers back to family cars, SUVs and pickup trucks and most major automakers outpaced analysts' expectations to finish the year.

For pickup trucks, the Ford F-Series, Chevrolet Silverado and the Chrysler Ram pickups closed 2011 strong. In which, the F-Series had its best December since sales-heady 2006.

For SUVs, Jeep sold more than 17,000 Grand Cherokee models, marking the SUV's best December since 2005. Meanwhile, the Accord and the Ford Fusion were exceptions among family cars, which did well on the whole. The redesigned Toyota Camry remains America's best-selling car.

Of the five major automakers, with sales up 4.5%, GM remained America's best-selling automaker in December. Ford sales rose 10% for December, securing a strong second place. Toyota kept pace for third, while an 83% increase in the Chrysler brand and 41% gain in Jeep drove Chrysler to fourth. Flagging Honda, down 18.8%.