Cars again outsell trucks in a strong April.(not a record, but 7% higher than last year)(Statistical Data Included)

Cars outsold trucks in April for the second straight month, which contributed to a strong month and brought this year's four-month total within a hair of last year's.

The four-month tally of 5,386,834 was just 1.7 percent shy of the 2001 count. And 2001 went on to become the second-best year in industry history.

April brought 1,446,306 sales, not a record, but 7 percent higher than last year and enough to be the second-best April ever, trailing only April 2000.

And the seasonally adjusted annual rate, compiled by Automotive News, ballooned to 17.5 million cars and light trucks, a rate of travel higher than the industry's biggest sales year, which was 17.4 million units in 2000.

Car sales were better than usual in April. At 737,028, they finished exactly in the middle of their totals for the last 13 years - six years were higher, six years were lower. More interesting is the fact that cars outsold trucks for the second consecutive month, and their year-to-date total was only 20,984 units …