The October sales varied widely from one chain to another.

The October sales were a monthly record at $18.7 billion.

October sales had fallen a revised 3 percent, to 492,000 units.

Many smaller auto makers also released their October sales results today.

Ford is expected to report its October sales on Friday.

Toyota reported the best October sales in its history, taking 15.6 percent of the American market, compared with 15.1 last year.

But most of the October sales came in the first half of the month.

But October sales fell from a record 10,089 automobiles in September.

More of the same is expected the next day in the report on October sales of new homes.

Other big retailers also reported disappointing October sales last week.