GM core brand sales for the month of October rose 7.1 percent on an adjusted basis. This is more than the expected increase of 5.2 percent analysts predicted.

GM sold 183,392 core brand units during October of this year, compared to 177,603 at the same time in 2009. GM's core brands include Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.

GM said its core brand sales were up 7 percent in October of 2010 from September 2010.

CNBC reports auto sales on an adjusted basis. There were 27 selling days in October of 2010, while October of 2009 had 28 sales days.

October sales for all car makers were expected to come in slightly below 1 million vehicles, hitting around 12 million on a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate. Sales in October were uneven, coming in strong some days and really weak on others.

Election day split the reporting of auto sales, with the larger automakers, coming out with their numbers Wednesday.

Hyundai Motor America, the largest automaker to report Tuesday, said its U.S. sales rose 38 percent last month to 42,656 vehicles from 31,005 the previous year.

The automakers held back on rebates in July and August, which are typically big months for promotions, and results were mixed. July sales were slightly better than a year earlier. August sales were the worst since 1983.

Automakers have their work cut out for them when it comes to selling new cars. The average length of ownership of new vehicles continues to increase, according to a recent analysis from Polk. Consumers are now holding onto a new vehicle, on average, for 63.9 months based on second quarter 2010 data, up 4.5 months from the same time last year, according to Polk.

Americans are still unsure about the economy, and hesitant to make a large purchase like buying a new car unless they absolutely need to or the deal is too good to pass up, says Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst at consumer web site Edmunds.com.

"People are on the sidelines waiting for that deal message to come," she says. "When they hear it, generally during the holiday season, they might start buying again."

In general, automakers offered more incentives this October than last—about $2,800 per car, a 6 percent increase, according to the car price information service TrueCar.

"There's been so much focus on the elections, people are not as confident," says Bert Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Ford in suburban Los Angeles. "My hope is that after the election, they'll come back in."

Customers may come back when they see holiday deals on luxury cars. Those Christmas-themed commercials with the big red bows may start airing well before the holidays—a not-so-subtle attempt by automakers to remind customers that buying cars can be fun.

"This whole idea about giving a car as a gift, it's one of the long-standing holiday commercial campaigns that has really resonated with the luxury consumer," says Steve Jett, national marketing communications manager for Lexus.

Lexus and Mercedes-Benz are battling this year for the title of No. 1 luxury carmaker. It's a title Lexus has held for years, but the carmaker is lagging behind Mercedes by about 3,000 vehicles in 2010. And with newer models rolling out, the carmakers will try to push out the older models.

"It's such a sensitive segment to old-versus-new," said Caldwell.

And when it comes to holiday marketing, retailers believe it's never too soon to haul out the holly. Expect the Mercedes and Lexus Christmas commercials to start soon.

"We'll start to see those commercials by Thanksgiving, if not earlier," says Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends at TrueCar. "I don't know anyone who actually gives someone a car for Christmas, but those commercials are incentive to some customers to go out and buy a car."

And Ford, [F  14.69  0.26  (+1.8%) ] which is offering the biggest rebates on 2010 models in an attempt to grab market share from rivals, will probably keep up the promotions. The company is offering up to 15 percent off the sticker price on some of its 2010 models, such as the Ford Focus.