U.S. Auto Sales Climb 14%

Carmakers sold 1.04 million cars and light trucks in the U.S. in January compared with 913,300 units a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp.

Last month's volume equates to an annual sales rate of 15.29 million vehicles, compared with a pace of 13.98 million units a year earlier and 15.37 million units in December.

January demand for domestic brands jumped 18% year over year to 475,800 vehicles, thus boosting their market share 1.4 points to 45.6%. Volume grew 22% to 165,900 vehicles at Ford and 16% at both General Motors and Chrysler to 194,700 units and 115,200 units, respectively.

Sales of Asian marques rose 12% to 467,400 vehicles last month but ceded 1 point of market share to reach 44.8%. Toyota led the group with a 27% surge to 157,700 units. Demand climbed 13% to 93,600 units at Honda and 2% to 80,900 units at Nissan. Sales growth slowed to 2% at Hyundai (43,700 vehicles) and Kia (36,300 units).

European brands hiked volume 9% to 99,900 vehicles in January, but that wasn't enough to avoid losing 0.4 points of market share to 9.6%. Increases were posted by the Volkswagen (+7% to 29,000 vehicles), Mercedes-Benz (+11% to 23,600 units), BMW (+1% to 16,500 units) and Audi (+8% to 10,100 units) brands.

Sales of passenger cars and trucks both each 14% last month. The latter were buoyed by demand for fullsize pickup trucks (+25% to 124,000 units) and crossover vehicles (+20% to 225,200 units). The rebound in pickup volume was led by the Ford F-Series (+22% to 46,800 units) and Chevrolet Silverado (+32% to 35,400 units).

January's 18% jump in small-car demand (204,100 units) was balanced by 12% advances for midsize (255,800 units) and luxury cars (74,300 units). The segment's big gainers were the Honda Accord (+75% to 23,900 units), Ford Fusion (+65% to 22,400 units) and Toyota Corolla (+32% to 23,800 units).