U.S. auto sales on track for strongest-ever November(Reuters).

U.S. auto sales were on a path to posting their strongest November ever, helped by marketing promotions and strength in sport utility vehicles, according to monthly sales figures released by automakers on Tuesday.

General Motors Co (GM.N) said the U.S. auto industry will sell 18.2 million vehicles for the month at an annualized rate, which would be a record for November. Most analysts say 2015 sales will top the record of 17.35 million vehicles in 2000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Year-end holiday promotions were pushed into November as automakers emphasized Black Friday deals tied to the Thanksgiving U.S. holiday, said Jessica Caldwell of Edmunds.com.

Nissan's (7201.T) U.S. sales chief, Dan Mohnke, added: “Black Friday has become a much bigger part of the auto industry over the last several years. It used to be a nonautomotive retail holiday but now it is becoming more and more an automotive retail holiday as well, feeding right into the holiday season which traditionally has been December and luxury sales."

Now, said Mohnke, the holiday season includes mainstream models as well as luxury ones.

Jeff Schuster, forecaster for LMC Automotive, said that promotions drew customers in even if incentives did not rise sharply in the month.

"Incentives were strong for the Black Friday weekend but I think it was more of the messaging than substance. Still, it looks like consumers took the deals,” he said.

GM's sales rose 1.5 percent. GM, like most automakers, showed gains for SUVs but losses for sedan sales.

Full-size pickup truck sales, combining the Chevrolet Silverado and GM Sierra, fell 6.2 percent, while sales of the Ford Motor Co (F.N) F-Series pickups jumped 10 percent to 65,192. Ford said its F-150 pickup, usually two-thirds of its F-Series sales, set a record for November.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU.N) (FCHA.MI) said its Ram pickup sales were up 2 percent.

Ford introduced a new holiday program offering $1,000 cash and zero-percent financing for five years. Ford sales rose 0.4 percent for the month.

Volkswagen AG's (VOWG_p.DE) U.S. sales in November fell 25 percent as it coped with a scandal over diesel emissions cheating.

Last November, VW sold 5,462 diesel-powered models, which it has stopped selling due to the scandal. Before the crisis erupted in September, 21 percent of its U.S. sales in 2015 were cars with diesel engines.

Fiat Chrysler stretched its streak of consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains to 68 as its SUV brand Jeep showed sales up 20 percent.

Patrick Abboud

Capinco.