United States auto sales continued at a strong clip in April, with sales rising 12.5 percent at No. 1 automaker General Motors Corp. and improving at DaimlerChrysler AG and for several Asian and European auto makers, according to a Wall Street Journal story by Sholnn Freeman. Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales slid 7.5 percent. April sales overall rose 2.8 percent to 1,447,086 vehicles, and amounted to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 17.4 million vehicles, up from 16.7 million a year earlier, according to estimates from Autodata Corp. German carmaker BMW AG boosted sales by 15.1 percent on a daily sales rate basis, including sales of its new Mini brand minicars. Sales of Mercedes-Benz brand luxury vehicles rose 7.2 percent on a daily sales rate adjusted basis. Nissan Motor Co. recorded a 14.8 percent sales jump led by double-digit increases in Altima and Maxima passenger cars in April, including a 60 percent jump in sales for its Infiniti luxury brand. Infiniti sales reflected demand for the hot-selling new G35 sedan, which competes in the same price class as the Cadillac CTS. Toyota Motor Corp. said U.S. sales were flat at 127,317, compared with a year earlier at its core Toyota division and rose 2.2 percent at Lexus. At Honda Motor, overall sales increased 1.1 percent in the month. South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. recorded a 13.8 percent sales increase in the month compared with a year earlier.
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