Volkswagen Leads January U.S. Auto Sales

U.S. auto sales continued their nice recovery in January overall, by 11 percent over a year earlier, as a number of brands extended their own surges — and some fell back a bit.

The biggest winners when industry sales were announced today were Volkswagen, whose January sales were a whopping 48% ahead of last January, and Chrysler, which reported a 44% year-over-year gain. Chrysler credited its recent spate of 16 all-new or significantly refreshed products, while Volkswagen of America CEO Jonathan Browning pointed out that the brand's "growth strategy continues to take root."

Also posting healthy double-digit gains were brands including Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Hyundai.

Perhaps more interesting, though, is that Nissan, Honda and Toyota all reported significant increases in sales for January over a year earlier: 10 percent, 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively. While those numbers don't seem very impressive per se, what is significant is that they represent gains over the brands' pre-tsunami performances. So these are very positive indicators for the Japanese brands as they complete their comebacks from the March 11 natural disaster of last year.

Meanwhile, however, it looks as though the rally by the biggest members of the U.S. Big Three might be losing a bit of steam. Ford sales advanced only 7 percent, while General Motors' sales actually declined by 6 percent. Ford will have an increasingly tough road in 2012 putting up better year-ago numbers after its strong three-year surge in the U.S. market, while GM executives suggested that their brands may have hit a lull because consumers are awaiting new GM products — and that these expected new products will help restore positive sales trends without the company having to resort to significantly more lucrative sales incentives.

"In 2012, we will strengthen our position with more new products, an even better dealership experience and reinforce the disciplined 'go to market' strategy that helped us grow profitably in the United States" last year, Don Johnson, the company's vice president of U.S. sales, said in a statement.

GM's launch lineup includes a new Cadillac XTS large sedan in spring and new ATS luxury sports sedan in late summer, a new Buick Encore small crossover late in the year, fuel-sipping new versions of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, and the new 2013 Chevrolet Spark subcompact.

One interesting drag on GM's performance in January: Volt, whose 603 sales were the worst month for the model since August. Obviously the publicity about a U.S.-government investigation of fires in crash-tested Volts spooked some potential buyers. Will interest in Volt build again now that the feds have said there was nothing to be concerned about in the first place?