Shares in big car makers General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Toyota (NYSE:TM) eased back depite the firms reporting strong December sales and as US auto firms disclose hotly-anticipated 2015 numbers.
Analysts reckon it means that car sales across the US for last year are set to break records, as punters came back to showrooms amid cheap credit, lots of choice and a buoyant market.
Notably, if the full-year total comes in at 17.5mln vehicles, it will be the best year ever in the US, beating a sales record in 2000 when 17.4 million vehicles had their keys handed over.
However, the numbers come on a day when VW - the German car maker, whose problems must now be known universally, reported a drop in sales and as the US Justice Department sued the firm for installing illegal "cheat" devices.
General Motors sales rose 6% last month to 290,230 vehicles while total 2015 sales were up 5% to 3.1 million vehicles. Shares eased 2.7% to US$32.36.
Ford (NYSE:F) dropped over 3% as it reported sales were 8% higher in December at 239,242 and rose 5% in 2015 to 2.6 million vehicles.
Elsewhere, Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) sales added 13% last month, while sales for the whole year were up 7% to 2.2mln vehicles. Shares in the firm, which has hit headlines recently for spinning off sports car brand Ferrari, shed 1.56% on the day.
Toyota (NYSE:TM) sales increased 11% in the month and were up 5% in 2015.
Conversely, VW sales dropped 9% in December and were down five% in 2015.
But in November the firm recorded a 25% plunge in sales after it stopped selling diesels, which contained the devices.