Asian-Brand Sales in U.S. Rose 7% Last Year

America's demand for Asian nameplates rose 1% to 602,100 units in December compared with the same month last year. Full-year volume grew 7 million units from 6.6 million in 2012.

Overall market sales last month totaled 1.36 million units, up only 4,300 from the year-earlier volume, according to Autodata Corp. The firm calculates the annualized sales rate for the month at 15.4 million compared with 16.4 million in November and 15.2 million in December 2012.

The American market expanded by 1.1 million units to 15.6 million cars and light trucks last year. Traditional domestic models from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler accounted for 45.2% of the total, up 0.7 points. Asian brands lost half a point of share to finish the year at 45.1%. European marques accounted for 9.7%, down 0.2 points from their total in 2012.

In December, declines by Toyota (-2% to 190,800 units), Kia (-14% to 33,600) and Mazda (-16% to 23,000) nearly offset increases at Honda (+2% to 135,300 vehicles), Nissan (+11% to 109,800) and Hyundai (+6% to 63,000).

Volkswagen's namesake brand fell 23% in December and ended the year at 407,700 units compared with 438,100 in 2012. Mercedes-Benz surged 18% last month, helping it outsell rival BMW by 25,000 units for the full year. Audi sales rose 14% to 158,100 units last year, including a 15% jump in December.