• by Karl Greenberg , May 15, 2013

April auto sales have come and gone, but you can always get fresh insights by slicing the loaf differently. Kelley Blue Book (KBB.com) has come up with some interesting nuggets from last month's auto activity in the U.S.

After a strong first quarter, sales have slowed somewhat, although sales for the first four months are still up -- and the industry is on target to hit KBB's 15.3 million prediction for 2013.

The firm says April numbers show the full-size sedan segment wallowing a bit, although the new Chevrolet Impala and Toyota Avalon are holding the segment aloft, and sales of Lincoln's new MKZ are taking off since the brand now has sufficient supplies.

KBB says market share of full-size cars dropped to 3.3% last month because of a 10% decline in sales versus the month last year. But the firm sees some pickup from the new Impala and Kia Cadenza sedans. The new Toyota Avalon saw sales double versus the year-ago month. and Avalon sales volume is up nearly 85% year to date, per KBB.

Just like the first quarter, April was big for smaller crossovers. Kelley Blue Book says sales increased nearly 30% from last year and market share grew to a record 12.9% of the industry. The redesigned Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4 led vehicle demand. KBB says all of the top-ten compact crossovers posted year-over-year increases in April.

Sales of Electric and hybrid cars were flat in the first quarter this year, partly because of lower gasoline prices. That continued in April, per KBB -- which notes Toyota Prius’ 10.2% sales drop versus March and a 21% drop versus the month last year -- although the nameplate, owning over 60% of hybrid vehicle sales, owns by far the biggest share of the market segment. The firm says the C-Max, Ford's answer to Prius V, only has 12.5% of the hybrid market. The good news for Ford is that the Focus car is seeing sales gains year-over-year. The firm notes that Focus sales for April beat last April by 16.1%, or 3,132 units.

Hyundai, per KBB, leads compact cars for market share, having overtaken Toyota in April because of higher sales for Elantra and the Veloster car. It helped that Toyota's Corolla saw a 14.3% decline in share to 12.6% per KBB.

In the dog-eat-dog world of mid-size cars, Toyota's Camry leads the segment -- at least in the first four months of the year, per KBB. The automaker sold 132,540 units. Second is Accord, Altima and Fusion. Honda's Accord led the segment last month, followed by Camry, Fusion, Altima and Malibu.

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