A few bright spots dot very dim April car sales

— -- Overshadowed by Chrysler's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and its move to shut down production until it emerges, automakers Friday reported April new vehicle sales that could only be described as terrible — down 34.2% from last year to an annual pace of 9.32 million.

The important annual rate number hasn't topped 10 million this year, and April was a special disappointment. Automakers and analysts had been expecting to match March's 9.86 million annual pace. They were poised to point to that as a signal the bottom had been hit, but sales tanked the last week in April.

Within the results, though, were some bright spots.

• Honda was cheered that its Accord was the best-selling vehicle of any kind in April, shouldering past the evergreen No. 1 Ford F-150 pickup, according to the monthly sales tally by Autodata.

Last summer, as fuel prices climbed to a record $4.11 a gallon, several cars outsold the popular Ford truck. But Accord hasn't been No. 1 overall since October 1991. April was the car's ninth time as top-seller since 1986, Honda said.

• Ford's Fusion midsize sedan was No. 7 on the industry sales chart, according to Autodata, with sales up 21.7% from last year — at a time almost no other models reported increases.

Fusion's been buoyed lately by positive reviews, a recommendation from Consumer Reports magazine, the addition of a gasoline-electric hybrid model and a freshened 2010 lineup.

• Largely because of Fusion's record April sales, Ford gained market share, returning to No. 2 automaker as Toyota tumbled. Toyota, though, is No. 2 for the first four months this year.

Ford's monthly sales tumbled 32% from a year earlier

• The sales slide from March was 4.5%, lowest March-April drop since 2003, Autodata said.

Chrysler, which filed for a government-engineered bankruptcy Thursday, reported the sharpest decline among major automakers, falling 48%.

GM, the largest American automaker with 21% of the market, posted its smallest decline in four months at 34%.