YOUNGSTOWN — Automobile dealers in the Mahoning Valley overcame slow November sales to end 2019 with robust numbers in December, and they also capped the year 5.3 percent ahead of 2018.

Local dealerships last month sold 4,622 vehicles to buyers in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties, up about 11 percent from the 4,153 vehicles sold in December 2018. Dealers finished the year with 58,863 vehicles sold, up 2,981 units.

November sales were down 12.4 percent compared to November 2018.

Reports from the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association also show for the month a 15.2 percent increase and for the year an 8.1 percent increase in sales to buyers across Ohio.

To buyers across Ohio, dealers sold 8,465 vehicles in December, up 1,117 from December 2018 and 106,845 vehicles for the year compared to 98,786 in 2018.

New vehicles sold for the month 2,612, up nearly 1 percent from 2,587 in December 2018, and for the year there was a 4 percent increase, from 31,565 to 32,809. Used vehicles for the month were up 26 percent, from 1,510 to 1,906, and for the year there was a nearly 7 percent increase, from 23,205 to 24,782.

Dealerships in Mahoning County with the most sales in the three counties for the month Boardman Subaru, 219; Greenwood Chevrolet, 205; and Sweeney Buick GMC, 204.

Greenwood ended the year the top sales leader with 3,117 vehicles sold, followed by Sweeney Chevrolet, 3,110 and Boardman Subaru, 2,566.

The top new vehicle sellers last month in Mahoning County were Boardman Subaru, 161; Sweeney Buick GMC, 144; and Toyota of Boardman, 127. For the year, Sweeney Chevrolet was the top new vehicle seller with 2,281; then Greenwood Chevrolet, 1,881; and Boardman Subaru, 1,717.

The top used vehicle sellers in the county last month were Fred Martin Ford, 96; Greenwood Chevrolet, 83; and Taylor Kia of Boardman, 82. The used car sales leader for 2019 was Greenwood Chevrolet, 1,236; followed by Taylor Kia of Boardman, 1,117; and Fred Martin Ford, 1,023.

In the 21-county region represented by the dealers’ association, dealers sold 250,081 new vehicles last year, down 0.5 percent from 2018.

“We had a very strong close to the year, with light duty trucks and SUVs carrying the load. In addition to a small increase in demand for new cars, used vehicle sales continued to outpace previous years,” said Dominic Vitantonio, dealers’ association president.

rselak@tribtoday.com