Chrysler and General Motors posted solid sales gains in the month of November.

The Chrysler Group kicked off today’s auto sales reports with a healthy 20-percent jump compared to this month last year -- an accomplishment that was largely due to its star brand Jeep, which was up 27 percent, setting a record for the month.

The Jeep Patriot was up 47 percent.

The newly-designed Chrysler 200 sedan rose 155 percent, pulling up the Chrysler brand by 29.6 percent.

Fiat and Dodge brands were, despite having new models, each up just 1 percent.

General Motors beat expectations with a 6.5 percent increase.

According to Ryan Brinkman, JP Morgan auto industry investment analyst, as quoted in USA Today, General Motors did "Significantly better than expected." And the company’s sales growth was accompanied by rising transaction prices, suggesting higher profits.

Ford, meanwhile, reported a 1.8 percent decline.

The redesigned version of the big F-150 pickup, the best-selling U.S. vehicle, was just arriving at dealers in November and its sales, made up of mostly close-out 2014s, were down 9.9 percent.

The Lincoln brand posted an overall 21 percent jump to 8,113; this was led by the refreshed Navigator's 88 percent growth to 1,433.

In its top-line sales preview, Toyota reported that its November U.S. sales for the Toyota, Scion and Lexus brands rose 3 percent to 183,346, led by sales growth for its SUVs and trucks.

Nissan reported a sales decline of 3.1 perce in November to 103,188, as both its Nissan and Infiniti brands fell.

Sales for Volkswagon’s Jetta jumped 31.8 percent to 14,268, while the new Golf was up 85.9 percent to 2,149 and the Golf GTI performance model was up 64.8 percent to 1,725.

U.S. sales for the Chinese-owned Swedish car maker Volvo fell 14.4 percent to 3,623.

Industry analysts expect it to be the strongest November sales in more than a decade.