Toyota and Honda have led the US automotive industry to a strong sales result in June, with the Japanese manufacturing giants selling 100,000 more vehicles than they did in the corresponding month in 2011.

Toyota Motor Corp., which includes Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands, rose 60.3 per cent to 177,795 sales in June, while Honda Motor Co., comprising Honda and Acura, jumped 48.8 per cent to 124,808.

The massive gains confirm both manufacturers have well and truly rebounded from the natural disasters that struck Japan in March 2011 and caused crippling supply issues for domestic car makers for much of last year.

General Motors stretched its lead as the dominant automotive group in the US. Sales of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC vehicles increased 15.5 per cent compared with June 2011, falling just short of a quarter of a million units at 248,750.

Ford Motor Co. enjoyed a 7.0 per cent increase taking it to 207,204 vehicles for the month. The Ford brand continues to be the most popular marque in the US with 199,660 sales in June, while Lincoln chipped in with a modest 7544 sales.

Mitsubishi and Jaguar were the only two brands to go backwards in June, with the Japanese manufacturer down 35 per cent to 5411 and the British marque 26 per cent off last year’s pace at 1030 sales.

The industry’s seasonally adjusted annual rate now sits at 14.1 million units – a whopping 2.5 million ahead of the same time in 2011 on the back of a number of new product releases and falling fuel prices.

After the first six months of the year, 7,272,096 vehicles have been sold throughout the US, up 15 per cent and almost one million vehicles over the first half of 2011.