New York, February 2 (FinanceEnquiry.com) - Signifying that demand for new cars and trucks has reached pre-recession levels, U.S. light-vehicle sales in January grew to 14.2 million seasonally adjusted annualized rate. This was the fastest pace of growth since the August 2009 “cash for clunkers” government trade-in program.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was clearly the sales leader although its market share plunged 3.4 percentage points. The second position was taken by Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), while Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) was in the third slot. Although GM reported a sales decline, it desisted from offering discounts and investors rewarded the company for lifting profit margins by boosting the stock 1.5 percent. Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC), reeling under the effects of plunging inventories due to the earthquake in Japan and the Tsunami in Thailand that interrupted its recovery last year, reported its first increase.

The trend in January was reminiscent of the strength of mid-2008 before things started sliding. Light-vehicle sales rate went past the 13.4 million pace average estimate of analysts. The last time U.S. monthly sales rate had gone beyond 14 million was in May 2008, apart from August 2009. Analysts see U.S. sales rising to a third-straight annual gain in 2012 due to the pent-up demand and the average age of cars rising to a record of 10.8 years. This will be the longest run since sales had reached the top in 2000. An increase of 6 percent to 13.6 million vehicle sales is likely due to an improving job market and available credit.