Ford Motor Co. turned the tables on Toyota Motor Co. in April, outselling Japan's largest automaker in monthly sales for the first time in more than a year. For the year, Ford sales are still about 46,000 vehicles behind Toyota. But Ford is benefiting from its new Fusion hybrid and gasoline-powered models, which Ford is billing as “America's most fuel-efficient midsized sedan.” Distress at General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC is also helping the Dearborn automaker distinguish itself. Ford, which has been promoting itself as the “different” American automaker that is surviving without federal assistance, sold 129,476 cars and trucks in April. Toyota sold 126,540. Across the US auto industry, meanwhile, light-vehicle sales fell 34.4 percent in April, compared with the same month last year. That was the 18th consecutive month of declines. For the year, US new-vehicle sales are now off 37.4 percent. US consumers purchased just under 820,000 new cars and trucks last month, even as consumer confidence began to pick up. Toyota reported the second-largest decline, with sales falling 42 percent, as popular models struggled. April sales of the once-popular Toyota Prius hybrid declined 61.5 percent, compared with the same month a year ago, when gas prices were at least $1 higher. Sales of the Camry, usually the nation's best-selling passenger car, fell 37 percent. Sales at GM, meanwhile, fell 33 percent in April.
