The figures for vehicle sales in August - totalling 1.63 million units - show more cars left the showrooms than during any month this year.

But that was small comfort to the US manufacturers, who are coming under pressure not only from Japan but from Korean and European vendors too.

General Motors kept its top spot on just a 0.7% fall in sales from last August, but sales of Ford, the second most popular make, slumped 13% over the year.

AUGUST US VEHICLE SALES GM: 464,774 (-0.8%) Ford: 288,515 (-13.1%) Toyota: 200,482 (+11.4%) Chrysler: 190,388 (-6.4%) Honda: 147,253 (+11.2%) Nissan: 80,820 (+14.2%) Hyundai: 41,073 (+5.9%) VW: 32,376 (-3.5%) BMW: 23,068 (+7.2%) (Change since August 2002)

Next in line is Toyota, up 11.4% on August 2002, with Chrysler limping in fourth on a fall of 6.4%.

Honda and Nissan also posted double-digit percentage gains, while BMW, Volvo and Korea's Hyundai turning in a strong showing too.

But the news was less good for Mazda and Mitsubishi, both of whom lost even more ground than Chrysler - although the US vendor had its second-best August in history despite the fall in sales.

The automobile market in the US has been a key driver in the continued strength of the US economy.

Heavy discounting, no-interest finance deals and big packages of extras such as insurance and servicing have kept Americans coming back to the showrooms for the past two years, although the cost of the incentives has hit the carmakers' bottom line.