ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

 Like their domestic counterparts, import automakers — helped in part by a nice lift on Black Friday — saw their sales jump in November, according to the American International Automobile Dealers Association, which said several imports enjoyed significant gains.

Specifically, AIADA — citing Autodata Corp. — said that there were 542,324 import sales last month, up 12.2 percent year-over-year and down 21.7 percent year from October. Year-to-date sales for imports are at 6.12 million, up 6.7 percent year-over-year.

Industry-wide (including domestics and imports) monthly sales jumped 13.9 percent and year-to-date sales climbed 10.4 percent, again thanks to a push from Black Friday.

“Bolstered by falling unemployment rates and attractive deals, consumers who had been deferring automotive purchases returned to dealerships in droves last month,” stated AIADA president Cody Lusk. “Dealers are optimistic that last month’s numbers bode well for 2012.”

Sharing some of the highlights among import brands, Mercedes-Benz posted its strongest November on record, as sales jumped 46.2 percent year-over-year to 27,841 units.

Kia, meanwhile, was up 39.1 percent, and Hyundai posted a sales gain of 21.8 percent gain.

AIADA also noted that Toyota, which was “well on its way to recovery from March’s earthquake and tsunami,” enjoyed a 6.7-percent gain. Its market share also rose one point.

On the other hand, the trouble never seems to end for Honda, which is now dealing with the supply impact from the Thailand flooding. Its sales were off 6.2 percent.

As for the top-selling vehicles during the month, imports took five of the 10 spots. The Toyota Camry/Solara was at No. 3, the Nissan Altima was fifth and the Honda Civic, Honda CR-V and Toyota Corolla/Matrix finished Nos. 8–10 , respectively.

AIADA provided the following graphs to illustrate its data in more detail: