New vehicle passenger car share climbed to 52.8% in April 2009. Click to enlarge.

Passenger cars continued to expand their market share against light trucks in April, with a 52.8% new market share—the highest so far this year.

Combined reported US hybrid sales (from Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM and Nissan) in April totalled 21,735 units, a 45.5% decrease year-on-year, representing a 2.7% new vehicle market share in April. Reported hybrid new vehicle share in April 2008 was 3.2%—the highest monthly share yet.

Year-on-year percentage change in car and light trucks sales for April 2009 for the top six OEMs. Click to enlarge.

General Motors. General Motors dealers in the United States delivered 173,007 vehicles in April, down 34% compared with a year ago. GM total truck sales (including crossovers) of 102,032 were down 28% and car sales of 71,775 were off 41% year-on-year.

Comparing GM’s April sales with March, total volume was up 11%, or about 16,600 cars, crossovers and trucks, largely driven by a return to more normal volumes of fleet sales compared with a very weak first quarter.

GM’s car sales compared with March were up nearly 2,900 vehicles (4%), truck sales increased more than 9,500 vehicles (16%), and crossover sales were up nearly 4,200 vehicles (14%).

GM delivered a total of 1,534 hybrid vehicles in the month.

Ford. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 129,898, down 31% compared with April 2008. Sales of cars were down 28.8% to 52,463 units; sales of crossovers were down 15.1% to 28,955 units; sales of SUVs dropped 60.9% to 5,944 units; and sales of trucks and vans were down 35.8% to 42,536 units.

Retail sales were down 32% compared with a year ago and fleet sales were down 30%. Nevertheless, Ford increased retail market share in April—the sixth month out of the last seven that Ford’s share of the retail market was higher than a year ago.

In April, the Ford Fusion paced the share performance with record sales of 18,321. April was the first full month of sales for the redesigned 2010 model and the new Fusion Hybrid version, and April is believed to be the first month that Fusion was among the top three-selling mid-size sedans.

In April, combined sales of all four Ford hybrid models—including the new Fusion and Milan hybrids—totaled 2,299, up 21% versus Ford’s hybrid sales a year ago (Escape and Mariner).

Toyota. Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA, Inc., reported month-end sales of 126,540 vehicles in April, a year-on-year decrease of 41.9% from last April. Total passenger car sales were down 42.3% to 77,851 units; total light truck sales were down 41.2% to 48,689 units. TMS posted April sales of 12,223 hybrid vehicles, down 62.8% year-on-year.

Camry remained Toyota’s volume leader in April, posting combined monthly sales of 25,324 units, down 36.7%. Corolla recorded sales of 18,534 units, down 42.9%. Yaris reported sales of 8,118 units for the month, down 29%. The Prius mid-size gas-electric hybrid posted April sales of 8,385 units, down 61.5%.

Honda. American Honda Motor Co., Inc., posted April vehicle sales of 101,029, a decline of 25.3% compared to April 2008, the company reported. Car sales were down 18.2% to 67,514 units; truck sales were down 36.3% to 33,515 units.

With the first full month of Insight sales, Honda posted combined hybrid sales of 5,457 units, up 25.5% year-on-year.

Nissan. Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA) reported sales for April of 47,190 units versus 75,855 units a year ago, a decrease of 37.8%. Passenger car sales were off 38.3% to 30,249 units; light truck sales were down 36.9% to 16,941 units.

Sales of the volume leading ALtima were down 46.9% to 12,012 units, including 222 Altima hybrids.

Chrysler. Chrysler LLC reported April US total sales of 76,682 units, representing a 48% decrease versus 2008. Total car sales were down 61% to 15,563 units; total truck sales were down 44% to 61,119 units.

Total April sales include a fleet reduction of 66% year-over-year for the same period, as the Chrysler continued to emphasize retail over fleet.