Certified pre-owned vehicle sales were likely down around 10% in 2022, but the market closed the year with some momentum heading into 2023.

After 14 months of year-over-year declines, there have now been two consecutive months of CPO sales gains, according to early estimates by Motor Intelligence.

Preliminary results that the company provided to Auto Remarketing indicate there were an estimated 2.48 million certified vehicle sales in 2022, which would be down 9.9% year-over-year.

However, the year did close on a high note, with December’s estimated CPO sales tally at 225,133 units, a 20.6% gain, according to Motor Intelligence.

This follows November’s 198,313 CPO sales, which beat prior-year figures by 9.5%, as Auto Remarketing reported last month.

In December, Cox Automotive was calling for 2.45 million certified sales for full-year 2022, which would have been 11% softer than 2021.

“Current year-to-date CPO sales hit 2.24 million at November’s end. To match or exceed our call of 2.4 million, CPO sales would have to be 160,000 or more,” Cox Automotive senior manager of economic and industry insights Chris Frey said in a Data Point report from December.

“The last time they were at or below this level was in the March to April 2020 selling period,” Frey said. “Given the sales pace this year and barring any major impacts from interest rates or other unforeseen events, we should hit our target — and then some.”

And that, it did.

While some automakers have yet to report results, Motor Intelligence did have some final CPO numbers for 2022 from most brands — a small slice of which saw sales increase.

Starting with the Big 3, Ford Motor Co. (including the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales) reported 228,799 certified sales for 2022, a 3.4% improvement from 2021.

Among the import brands, a few increased sales.

Hyundai, for instance, posted 92,951 certified sales for a 22.7% uptick. The 3,011 CPO sales from Genesis marked a 128.6% hike.

Kia’s 94,608 certified sales last year were up 10.1% from 2021.

Alfa Romeo’s 2,250 certified sales were an 8.6% year-over-year gain.

Land Rover’s annual CPO sales (28,888) were up marginally at 0.2%.

Certain brands have yet to report results to Motor Intelligence, so these numbers could change.