Fred Martin Nissan

Nissan North America led a resurgence in U.S. vehicle sales last month as the number of vehicles it sold jumped 25.3 percent on strong consumer demand for both cars and trucks.

The Franklin-based automaker sold 92,964 vehicles in September, up from 74,205 in the same month last year.

Sales jumped 21.7 percent for the Altima sedan and 68.1 percent for the Versa, while sales of the Rogue crossover rose 29.1 percent.

At other carmakers, sales of pickups and SUVs boosted U.S. auto sales sharply last month as dealers offered promotions, gas prices fell and contractors replaced aging fleets of work trucks. Auto dealers said small business purchases also increased.

Truck sales at General Motors, Chrysler and Ford grew in the double digits, outpacing cars. The September increases built on a healthy performance in August, when new models, cheaper financing and pent-up demand lifted the industry after several disappointing months.

Analysts had expected more Japanese vehicles to fill showrooms after months of shortages related to March's earthquake and tsunami. But Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., the two automakers hit hardest by the March earthquake, continued to struggle in September. Toyota's sales were down 17.5 percent, while Honda's fell8 percent.

General Motors Co.'s sales rose20 percent compared with September 2010, led by a 34 percent rise in sale of full-size pickups and SUVs. Chrysler Group LLC's overall sales rose 27 percent, including a 45 percent jump in Ram pickups.

At Ford, sales rose just 9 percent overall, but sales of SUVs rose 35 percent while pickup sales climbed 15 percent.

The price of regular gasoline in September dropped nearly 30 cents a gallon (3.8 liters) from the peak this year of $3.90 in May. The average price of gas at the pump in Nashville on Monday was $3.22 a gallon ? down almost 29 cents a gallon in a month.

Zero-percent financing helps

Promotions were especially helpful to vehicle sales in September, according to Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates. GM, for example, was offering zero-percent financing and $1,000 cash on the 2011 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup. Sales of the Silverado, one of America's best-selling vehicles, rose 36 percent.

"There remains an older fleet of commercial-use trucks with small and medium contractors, so some of those could be coming back into the market to take advantage of the current conditions," Schuster said.

Analysts worry the jump will be short-lived because other potential buyers of new cars and trucks are worried about the economy longer term. Edmunds.com last week reduced its full-year sales forecast from 12.9 million vehicles to 12.6 million vehicles.

But Don Johnson, GM's vice president of U.S. sales, said pent-up demand was fueling a lot of the industrywide increase, and he expects a steady rise through the end of the year. GM stuck with its forecast for the year of around 13 million vehicle sales.

Based on showroom traffic and internal forecasts, Johnson said GM doesn't expect a double-dip recession, adding that consumer confidence rose in September. Retail sales and industrial production were also encouraging.

The Labor Day holiday likely gave sales a boost. So did Hurricane Irene, by delaying some sales from August until September.

Sales of the Chevrolet Cruze compact, while still strong at just over 18,000, fell below 20,000 last month for the first time since March.

Its prime competitors, the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, continued to struggle. Corolla sales were down 23 percent, while Civic sales were off 26 percent. Johnson blamed seasonal patterns for the Cruze sales dip.