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With late-October floods in Thailand disrupting world vehicle supply chains, auto makers sold 6.29 million units in the month, the sixth-highest monthly result of the past 10 months.

October’s results represented a slim 1.3% gain on like-2010, the third-lowest year-over-year result in more than two years. Worldwide deliveries also were down 9.3% from September, a seasonal decline twice as large as year-ago.

The Thai floods caused a number of Asia-based auto makers to reduce output, hitting Honda particularly hard just as the auto maker was beginning to make up production lost to the March tsunami and earthquake in Japan.

However, the effects of the flood on global vehicle sales likely will be felt most strongly in December and first-quarter 2012, as the dip in production lowers inventories around the world.

Related document: World Vehicle Sales Summary

North America led all regions in year-over-year growth in October, with sales rising 7.4%. Most of the gains were in the U.S., the world’s second-largest vehicle market, where deliveries climbed 8.5% to 1.05 million units.

Positive results in Canada, up 2.7%, and Mexico, up 1.7%, helped bring North America vehicle sales to 1.25 million units for a 19.9% global market share, up from September’s 18.6%.

Asia/Pacific sales in Thailand, which was the region’s fifth-largest market in September, plunged more than 50% from the prior month and 40.5% from like-2010, dropping the country to the No.9 spot in the region.