(February 2, 2013) All three U.S. automakers — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — enjoyed big sales gains in January compared to January 2012, according to monthly sales figures relesed Friday. And Toyota saw the biggest huge jump in U.S. sales.

Demand pushed the seasonally adjusted sales rate to 15.3 million, slightly below December's 15.4-million rate but well above January 2012's 13.97 million.

"The sales pace we saw in the fourth quarter of last year rolled into January, exceeding our expectations for the industry," said Bill Fay, general manager of the Toyota Division.

Ford's U.S. sales rose 22 percent, with car volume advancing 34 percent and utility vehicle deliveries rising 23 percent. Ford's truck sales rose 11 percent. The company said its U.S. retail sales, helped by new models such as the C-Max hybrid, were up 24 percent.

Sales at the Ford Division jumped 23 percent, while Lincoln volume dropped 18 percent, reflecting shortage of the new MKZ sedan.

It was Ford Motor Co.'s biggest gain in monthly sales since U.S. volume rose 40 percent in September 2010.

"Ford is off to a strong start this year, with Fusion and Escape delivering January sales records and F series seeing a particularly strong reception this early in the year," Ken Czubay, Ford's head of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said in a statement. "Our investment in fuel-efficient new vehicles — including EcoBoost engines and hybrid technology — continues to pay off."

Sales rose 16 percent last month at General Motors, with retail volume up 24 percent, the company said. It was GM's biggest monthly gain since June 2012. All of GM's brands posted gains for the month, led by a 47 percent increase at Cadillac, a 32 percent rise at Buick and a 23 percent jump at GMC.

Sales of GM's full-sized pickups rose 32 percent to 50,230 units, with inventories in line with the company's sales and production plans for 2013, the automaker said.

Chrysler reported U.S. sales of 117,731 units, a 16 percent increase compared with sales in January 2012 (101,149 units), and the group’s best January sales since 2008.

The Chrysler, Dodge, Ram Truck and Fiat brands each posted year-over-year sales gains in January compared with the same month last year. The Dodge brand’s 37 percent increase was the largest sales gain of any Chrysler Group brand in January. Chrysler Group extended its streak in January to 34-consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains.

“It’s been a good week for the Chrysler Group. On Wednesday we announced full year 2012 profits of $1.7 billion and followed that with our January sales, up 16 percent, marking our 34th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales growth,” said Reid Bigland, head of U.S. Sales.

“Entering 2013 our product portfolio has never been stronger with our new Ram truck picking up both the 2013 Motor Trend and the North American ‘Truck of the Year’ awards, and the introduction of our new 30 mpg highway Jeep Grand Cherokee equipped with our new EcoDiesel engine.”

Toyota, leading all automakers' increases, said its combined sales of Toyota, Scion and Lexus models jumped 27 percent. Toyota was helped by big gains for the Prius hybrid line, the new Avalon sedan, the Corolla, and a 26 percent advance in truck deliveries.

A 75 percent surge in sales of the Accord, redesigned for 2013, helped Honda post a 13 percent increase in January U.S. deliveries.

Nissan said sales rose 2 percent, with the Nissan brand up 2 percent and Infiniti deliveries advancing 5 percent. Sales of the redesigned Pathfinder SUV and Sentra small car were substantially higher, but demand for the all-new Altima slipped 4 percent.

Hyundai Motor America, citing improved availability of key models, said it set a January sales record of 43,713 units, up 2 percent.

Sources: Manufactuers, Automotive News