U.S. Car Sales Climb Nearly 5% in February

Carmakers sold 1.26 million vehicles in the U.S. last month compared with 1.19 million in February 2014, Autodata Corp. reports.

The annualized sales rate climbed to 16.2 million from 15.4 million a year earlier, led by strong gains by Asian brands. But the pace fell from 16.7 million in January.

U.S. consumers continued their love affair with trucks last month. Car sales in February fell 1% to 573,600 units, but demand for trucks zoomed 12% to 683,900.

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler collectively gained 3% in February. Growth by GM (+4% to 231,400 units) and Chrysler (+6% to 160,300) offset a 2% decline to 179,700 units at Ford.

Asian brands boosted their sales nearly 9% to 575,400 units last month. Sales rose for all eight producers that do business in the U.S. Volumes were up at Toyota (+13% to 180,500), Nissan (+3% to 118,400), Honda (+5% to 105,400), Hyundai (+7% to 52,500), Kia (+7% to 44,000), Subaru (+19% to 41,400) and Mazda (+5% to 25,700).

America's demand for European brands rose 5% to 109,700 vehicles in February. Sales by segment leader Volkswagen dropped 5% to 25,700 units, ending a four-month recovery from 18 consecutive months of year-on-year shrinkage. But sales improved for Mercedes-Benz (+5% to 25,300 units), BMW (+15% to 25,200) and Audi (+5% to 11,500).