• Detroit Bureau, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 10:34 AM

The U.S. new car market seems to have continued gaining momentum in April – though there were a few setbacks, notably for the two largest of the domestic makers.

But it is likely to wrap up as another month of record-setting sales for at least some makers, including Volkswagen of America, which had its best April in more than 40 years. Chrysler, meanwhile, posted another double-digit sales increase. Japanese makers are mixed, with Nissan reporting a rare down month while Toyota, still recovering from last year’s shortages, reported an 11.6% gain for the month.

But both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors posted sales declines as the automakers reduced fleet sales. Despite the setback, however, GM raised its full-year light vehicle sales forecast to the range of 14 million to 14.5 million units from earlier estimates of 13.5 million to 14 million units.  A growing number of industry analysts now believe 2012 could wrap up with sales in the low to mid-14 million range.

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