(June 1, 2011) May light vehicle sales in the U.S. were mixed with more losers than winners. As expected Honda and Toyota saw their sales falter because of low inventory created by parts shortages following the March earthquake in Japan.

Toyota sold 108,387 units, a decrease of 33 percent compared to the same period last year. Honda was down 23 percent compared to May 2010 with sales of 90,773. Year-to-date, Toyota is down 1 percent and Honda is up 7 percent.

General Motors and Ford also turned in disappointing sales numbers — due to rising vehicles prices, near-$4 gas, and inventory shortages — compared to the first four months of the year. GM was off 1 percent from May 2010 with sales of 221,192 and Ford was down 3 percent with total sales of 191,529. For the year, GM is up 19 percent and Ford is up 9 percent.

At GM, sales of large pickup trucks dropped 14 percent and crossover demand slipped 1 percent. Ford said car sales rose 4 percent last month, but truck deliveries slid 7 percent, with F-Series pickup volume off 15 percent.

Of the Detroit 3, Chrysler turned in the best numbers, up 10 percent for the month compared to May 2010 on sales of 115,363. Chrysler is up 20 percent for the year. Chrysler was helped by new models and a 55 percent jump in Jeep deliveries.

Other Japanese brands also suffered because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Nissan was down 9 percent with sales of 76,148; Mazda was off 21 percent; and Subaru suffered its first month-over-month drop in sometime, down 15 percent.

The Korean brands, Hyundai and Kia, with a stable of fuel-efficient vehicles was relatively unaffected by the Japanese problems. Hyundai was up 21 percent with sales of 59,214 and Kia was up 53 percent with sales of 48,212. The Hyundai Group had sales of 107,426, representing a 34 percent increase. Hyundai finished the month less than 1,000 units behind Toyota.

Volkswagen showed some strength, up 28 percent.