U.S. Car Sales Rose 4% in April

Deliveries of cars and light trucks in the U.S. rose to a record 1.51 million units in April from 1.45 million in the same month last year, Autodata Corp. reports. Sales jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17.4 million from 16.8 million in April 2015.

Strong demand for pickup trucks and SUV/crossover vehicles continues to drive the American market. Truck sales last month rose 11% to 877,100 units, and car sales fell 5% to 629,800.

Most of the market’s overall growth in April came from Asian brands, where volume jumped 7% to 688,800 units. The total surpassed deliveries from traditional American brands by 63 vehicles, according to Autodata.

Asia's results were driven by gains for Toyota (+4% to 211,100 units), Honda (+14% to 148,800) and Nissan (+13% to 123,900). Hyundai sales dropped 9% to 62,200 vehicles in April. But deliveries by its Kia affiliate grew 6% to 56,500 vehicles. Subaru climbed 7% to 50,400 units, and Mazda posted a 9% gain to 26,200 cars and trucks.

Detroit's Big Three brands posted a 2% increase to 688,700 vehicles last month. Gains by Ford (+4% to 229,700 units) and Chrysler (+6% to 196,500) offset a 4% decline to 259,600 units for General Motors.

April sales shrank for European marques (-3% to 129,500 vehicles) because of declines by its two largest brands. Segment leader Volkswagen dropped 10% to 27,100 vehicles, and BMW fell 7% to 25,000 units. Mercedes-Benz was virtually flat at 31,800 vehicles.