Orange County auto dealers saw their third straight month of sales gains with results for April.
Sales in April were up 7.5% from a year earlier to 10,202 autos, according to the Newport Beach-based Orange County Automobile Dealers Association.
The figure is based on registrations with the state, a barometer of sales.
Sales have been up every month this year except for January, which was off by 3.2% to 8,403 autos.
But last month’s sales still are below the 14,062 autos dealers sold in April of 2007, when the market was a lot stronger.
South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia, which have their U.S. bases in Orange County, continued to boost sales.
Hyundai was up nearly 40% to 417 autos sold. Kia was up 21% to 170 autos.
Luxury car sales were mixed.
Mercedes-Benz was up 13% for the month to 665 autos. Lexus was up 13% to 532 autos. BMW was down 22% to 443.
Jaguar and Porsche had a bad month.
Porsche was down 32% to 52 autos. Jaguar sales were down 51% to 22 cars.
Toyota appears to have shaken off any fallout from its recalls. The Japanese automaker was up 26% to 2,380 autos.
Honda, its closest rival in OC, was down about 1% to 1,515 autos.
Among domestic brands, Ford continued to boost its sales here, rising 3% to 696 autos.
General Motors was up nearly 10% to 112 autos, but the automaker’s dominant Chevrolet brand was down 13% to 322 autos.
