While each domestic automaker said sales increased in October, Chrysler's sales were nearly triple the industry average as sales of its new Jeep Grand Cherokee surged 291%.

With the exception of August 2009, when sales were inflated by the government's cash-for-clunkers plan, October was the first time since the beginning of the financial crisis in September 2008 that the annual pace of vehicle sales exceeded 12 million.

"We appear to have broken the glass ceiling, so to speak," said Ford sales analyst George Pipas.

What's more, regular consumers, rather than fleet buyers, helped drive sales higher in October. Fleet sales aren't as profitable for automakers.

"This is the first month this year that we have seen retail actually perform better than fleet," said Bob Carter, vice president and general manager of Toyota.

For the month, sales rose 37% for Chrysler, 19.3% for Ford and 4.2% for General Motors. Sales declined 4.4% for Toyota and rose 15.6% for Honda and 16.1% for Nissan.