According to the latest reports released in early May, the US auto industry posted an impressive sales increase of over two per cent in April. Dealerships in the United States sold around 1,184,567 new cars and SUV’s in April, an increase of 26,644 from the same month in the previous year. The result shows around 4.65 million sales in US for the year, which is up 10 per cent from the 4.22 million vehicles sold over the same period in 2011. Toyota and Chrysler are the two giant automakers who did well and saw big U.S. sales gains in April. But the two largest manufacturers – General Motors and Ford – suffered decline with sales down 8.2 per cent and 5.0 per cent respectively. GM sales declined 19,151 units to 213,387 compared with previous year, while Ford dipped 9428 units to 180,350.

Toyota sales increased 12 percent as its inventories at last returned to pre-earthquake levels, while Chrysler showed a 20-percent increase in sales. Toyota introduced new products in the market like the Toyota Camry midsize sedan, which played a significant role in helping the company attain the top rank. Chrysler made this achievement with the RAM pickup and Chrysler 200 midsize sedan. Ford’s decline and an 11.6 per cent gain by Toyota saw the Japanese automaker fall just 2306 vehicles short of second place, closing the gap from more than 30,000 units in April 2011. Compared to others, Chrysler tops the list with sales rocketing 20.4 per cent to 141,165 vehicles. Chrysler group, which is now 33 per cent up on the same period in 2011, had sold 404,175 vehicles so far in 2012, beating Honda’s 432,777.

Other manufacturing groups like Daimler and Volkswagen also enjoyed a strong month while Asian groups such as Hyundai and Nissan remained steady.

via Caradvice