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Vehicle sales declined slightly but remained strong in January with help from an improving labor market, easing credit availability and pent-up demand, NAFCU Research Assistant Doug Christman said Monday.

Hurricane Sandy continued to elevate sales numbers, Christman said, though the effects of the storm on the vehicle market are fading moving into 2013.

Research firm AutoData Corp. said total vehicle sales, seasonally adjusted, declined from 15.4 million units in December to 15.3 million in January. Over the past 12 months, sales were up 9.4 percent. Within these trends:

• Car sales totaled an annualized 7.9 million units in January, the same as in December.
• Light-truck sales totaled an annualized 7.4 million units in January, down from 7.5 million in December.
• Year over year, all six of the largest automakers saw increases in January. The largest gain was for Toyota (up 26.6 percent).
• The U.S. market share of the total vehicle market grew to 45.6 percent in January, up from 44.8 percent in December.
• The share of domestically assembled vehicles rose to 78.7 percent in January, up from 78.2 percent in December.

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