Small cars sell best

U.S. light vehicle sales fell 6.9% to about 1.25 million sales in April from a year ago, hitting Detroit's automakers hard, as the pinch of $3.60-a-gallon gas combined with a struggling U.S. economy to drive a strong consumer shift to more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers from large trucks.

The shift led to sales and market-share declines at General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, which have historically relied on truck sales. GM and Ford, however, noted jumps in car and crossover sales for the month, compared with a year ago.

Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. also felt the impact of fewer consumers choosing pickups and SUVs, but they overcame that squeeze with increased sales of cars.

"The reason for the take down is because of rising oil prices," said Mark LaNeve, GM North America vice president of sales, service and marketing. "What we did not count on is oil hitting as high as almost $120 a barrel. What that's doing is causing a sharp shift to cars and crossovers from large trucks."

The highlights:

• GM reported sales of 257,638 vehicles in April, down 16.2% from the same month last year.
• Ford sales fell 12.1% to 200,007 in year-over-year comparisons.
• Chrysler reported April sales of 147,751, down 23.5% from the same month last year.
• Toyota reported a sales increase of 3.4% to 217,700 vehicles.
• Nissan posted a 6.7% overall sales increase for the month to 75,855.

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