U.S Car Sales Drop 3%

Sales of cars and light trucks in the U.S. fell to 1.01 million last month from 1.04 million in January 2013, hurt by heavy snowstorms and unusually cold weather. It was the first drop in year-on-year volume since sales shrank 4% in September.

January's annualized selling rate was 15.2 million, unchanged from a year earlier and down from 15.4 million in December, according to Autodata Corp.

Deliveries dropped 6% for traditional domestic brands, led by General Motors (-12% to 171,500 units) and Ford (-8% to 153,500). Chrysler sales grew 8% to 124,000 units, as strong demand for the company's pickup trucks offset a 23% drop in car deliveries.

Asian brands lost less than half a percentage point to 466,200 vehicles. Gainers included Nissan (+12% to 90,500 vehicles), Hyundai (+1% to 44,000), Kia (+2% to 37,000) and Subaru (+19% to 33,000). Those advanced largely offset shrinkage at Toyota (-7% to 146,400), Honda (-2% to 91,600) and Mazda (-12% to 18,800).

Sales of European marques declined 4% to 96,000 units, pulled down by another month of double-digit decline for Volkswagen (-19% to 23,500 units). Volvo sales plunged 22% to 3,800, and Mini volume dropped 31% to 2,500.

Europe's luxury brands were a bright spot. Demand rose at Mercedes-Benz (+1% to 23,900 units) and BMW (+11% to 18,300).

Audi sales were virtually flat at 10,100. Maserati sales more than tripled to nearly 570 units.

Trucks accounted for 51.4% (520,900 units) of the January total, the same share they held in January 2013, according to Autodata. Demand for pickups fell 5%, but volume grew in all other truck segments.

Car sales shrank 8% to 491,700 units, marked by declines in all sectors. The biggest volume drop was in the midsize segment (-14% to 220,500 units); the smallest decline was in the luxury segment (-0.4% to 75,600).