IRVINE, Calif. -

Not only was the third quarter the strongest quarter ever for the certified pre-owned market, the period’s final month saw two brands notching all-time sales records.

According to Autodata Corp., both Mazda and Porsche achieved their respective strongest months ever for certified sales, September or otherwise, as Mazda moved 2,811 units and Porsche sold 871 certified vehicles.

Mazda’s record-breaking month bested the September 2011 total by 74.5 percent. This was the third consecutive best-ever month for the brand, giving Mazda a third-quarter sweep of record months.

What’s more, the 602 dealers enrolled in Mazda’s program is the highest enrollment count the automaker has ever had, said manager of CPO and remarketing Roger Basa.

“The Mazda dealer network is putting a higher mix of Mazda CPO product on the front lines than they have traditionally done in the past,” Basa said. “Our strong CPO APR message and the new three-year Buyback offering are getting more dealers engaged in the Mazda CPO program and bringing more customers into our showrooms for both CPOs and new-car sales.”

In three quarters of 2012, Mazda has sold 19,262 certified vehicles, up more than 39 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, Porsche’s best-ever month put its year-to-date total at 7,370 sales.

More Automakers Report Results

Other automakers also enjoyed solid CPO months in September, as well.

Over at Nissan North America, the Nissan brand enjoyed its best September ever, moving 9,838 units for a 10-percent year-over-year gain. In three quarters, Nissan sold 80,558 CPO units for a 19-percent hike.

“Launched as a model-year 2008 (vehicle), the Nissan Rogue has become an outstanding volume unit for CPO consistently, delivering approximately 1,200 units per month,” said Nissan’s Marty Gleason.

He noted that Infiniti’s CPO sales dropped 29 percent in September, as it moved 811 units. The brand “continues to be impacted by the declining off-lease maturities, similar to almost all luxury OEMs,” shared Gleason, who is the senior manager of CPO at Nissan North America.

Year-to-date, Infiniti’s certified sales were at 9,097 units (down 7 percent).

At General Motors, CPO sales for the Chevrolet, Buick and GMC brands were at 21,602 units in September (down 5.9 percent year-over-year). Year-to-date sales for these brands reached 210,071 units.

GM’s Cadillac brand had 1,264 certified sales in September (down 27.3 percent) and had recorded 12,454 certified sales through nine months.

Moving over to Ford, the Lincoln brand had its best September on record, selling 1,679 certified units for a 15-percent gain. The luxury division had 14,398 CPO sales in the first three quarters of the year, compared to 11,090 in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, there were 14,193 Ford/Mercury units sold in September, which was up 54 percent year-over-year and the strongest September in eight years. It also represented the best month for Ford/Mercury – September or otherwise – since July 2007.

In nine months, Ford/Mercury CPO sales have reached 113,372 units, compared to 85,499 certified sales in three quarters of 2011.

Todd Fites, the automaker’s national CPO sales manager, said that it was “another terrific CPO performance by our Ford and Lincoln dealers in September. We continue to see improved dealer participation in our programs, and we expect the trend to continue.”

At Chrysler, CPO sales totaled 8,091 units in September (down 17.2 percent) with year-to-date sales coming in at 85,416 (down 0.7 percent).

By brand, Dodge had 3,924 certified sales for the month (down 4 percent), Jeep moved 2,593 CPO units (down 27.5 percent) and there were 1,574 Chrysler-brand CPO sales (down 25.3 percent).

Fiat – which was not included in the Chrysler Group totals above – sold six CPO units in September.

As for Toyota, it followed its best August on record with its best September in history. There were 28,071 TCUV sales for the latter month, a 3.2-percent year-over-year uptick. Toyota sold 248,102 CPO units in the opening three quarters of 2012, which was off 1.5 percent from the same period of 2011.

Next up, Lexus moved 5,747 certified vehicles for the month, compared to 5,450 in September 2011. Year-to-date, it had sold 51,455 units, versus 52,501 CPO sales through three quarters of 2011.

Kia sold 1,804 certified units in September (up 84.6 percent) and sold 14,020 certified vehicles through nine months (up 117.6 percent).

At Mercedes-Benz, September certified sales climbed 17.7 percent to 6,718 units, with year-to-date sales up 3.8 percent (52,821 units).

Volkswagen sold 7,357 CPO units for the month (up 30.7 percent), and its year-to-date sum climbed to 65,083 units (up 16.3 percent).

Audi moved 2,799 certified vehicles in September, down from 2,871 CPO sales in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date sales reached 27,640 units through September, compared to 28,389 sales through three quarters of 2011.

Continuing on, there were 19,691 Honda-brand CPO sales in September (up 11.5 percent) and 3,674 Acura certified sales (up 4.4 percent). Year-to-date, Honda was at 184,625 CPO sales (up 7.2 percent), and Acura had moved 33,201 CPO units (down 10.2 percent).

BMW posted 6,893 CPO sales for the month (up 7.7 percent) and had moved 56,638 certified units through September (down 12.2 percent).

Hyundai sold 6,522 certified vehicles in September (up from 5,116 in September 2011) with year-to-date sales reaching 51,923 units (up from 33,650 in the same period of 2011).

Subaru dealers reported 2,002 certified sales for the month, which was a 6.8-percent increase. Through three quarters, sales reached 18,047 units for a 1.2-percent hike.

Volvo sold 996 CPO vehicles (down 11.8 percent) in September, and moved 8,984 units in three quarters (down 8 percent).

Jaguar sold 261 (down 1.9 percent) in September, while Land Rover moved 544 CPO units, compared to 38 a year earlier.

Mini had 339 CPO sales, up from 174 sales in September 2011. Mitsubishi moved 46 CPO units for the month (up 27.8 percent), and Maserati sold 27 (down 15.6 percent). Bentley was estimated to have sold 30.