Asian-Based Makers See Increased Car Sales

Honda Motor Co., Japan's second-largest automaker, no. 3 Nissan Motor Co., and Mazda Motor Corp. bucked a slump in February American sales, leading a gain in market share for Asia-based brands.

Sales increased 4.9% from a year earlier for Honda, 1.2% for Nissan and 6.7% for Mazda. Toyota Motor Corp., Asia's biggest automaker, had a 2.8% drop. The market share of Japanese and South Korean companies rose 2.4 percentage points to 41.8%, according to Autodata Corp.

"Domestic U.S. automakers will probably lose their 50% market at some point this year, perhaps not for good, but eventually that's where we're headed," the director of market forecasting for Edmunds.com, Jesse Toprak, said.