March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, No. 3 Nissan Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. bucked a slump in February U.S. sales, leading a gain in market share for Asia-based brands.

Sales increased 4.9 percent from a year earlier for Honda, 1.2 percent for Nissan and 6.7 percent for Mazda. Toyota Motor Corp., Asia's biggest automaker, had a 2.8 percent drop. The market share of Japanese and South Korean companies rose 2.4 percentage points to 41.8 percent, according to Autodata Corp.

``Domestic U.S. automakers will probably lose their 50 percent market at some point this year, perhaps not for good, but eventually that's where we're headed,'' Jesse Toprak, director of market forecasting for Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, California, said in an interview yesterday. ``Honda is probably in the most stable position this year, based on its product plans.''

Asian automakers boosted their market share as industrywide U.S. sales tumbled 6.3 percent. That monthly drop, the eighth since June, reinforced forecasts for weak demand in 2008's first half. Analysts have estimated U.S. sales this year of about 15.5 million cars and light trucks, which would the lowest since 1998.

Among U.S.-based automakers, General Motors Corp.'s sales fell 13 percent, Ford's slid 6.9 percent and Chrysler LLC's decreased 14 percent.

Expansion Stalled

The six-year U.S. economic expansion stalled in December and January, possibly marking the start of a recession, said Martin Feldstein, Harvard University economist and president of the National Bureau of Economic Research, in a Bloomberg Television interview last week. A report from the Institute for Supply Management today showed manufacturing in the U.S. contracted in February at the fastest pace in almost five years.

``The general feeling of wealth in the country is shaken,'' John Mendel, executive vice president of Honda's U.S. sales unit, said in an interview last week.

Toyota, the world's second-largest automaker, sold 182,169 vehicles in February, dropping from 187,330 a year earlier. The Toyota City, Japan-based company was dragged down as dealers await full production of the redesigned Corolla small car. The Prius hybrid sedan also fell.

Sales of Tundra pickups rose 49 percent to 14,400.

Toyota's market share for the month rose to 15.5 percent from 14.9 percent a year earlier, Autodata said.

Toyota U.S. Sales

Toyota, aiming to increase U.S. sales between 1 percent and 2 percent this year, posted a 2.5 percent drop through February. Irv Miller, its U.S. vice president of communications, said in a conference call yesterday that Toyota will update its sales and market outlook in a month, after the end of the first quarter.

``It's safe to say they aren't going to raise their sales target,'' Edmunds.com's Toprak said. ``Toyota has grown to a point where it's going to be hard for them to keep gaining substantially, given how big they are.''

Honda sold 115,397 vehicles last month, an increase from 110,026 a year earlier. Gains for the Tokyo-based automaker were led by the Fit and Civic small cars and CR-V and Pilot SUVs.

That helped lift the company's market share 1 percentage point to 9.8 percent in February.

Nissan's sales rose to 86,219 from 85,218. The gain was led by the revamped Murano SUV, new compact Rogue crossover, Altima sedans and Versa subcompact, said Al Castignetti, chief of U.S. Nissan-brand sales, in an interview.

``We're poised to do very well in a down market,'' he said.

The Tokyo-based company's market share rose to 7.3 percent from 6.8 percent in February 2007.

Hyundai, Kia

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, sold 31,090 vehicles last month, a drop of 9.9 percent from a year earlier. The Seoul-based company's market share fell 0.1 point to 2.6 percent.

Kia Motors Corp., controlled by Hyundai, sold 21,988 autos, down 6.5 percent. The Seoul-based company in February revamped its regional operations by replacing U.S. chief operating officer Len Hunt and marketing chief Ian Beavis.

Mazda, Japan's fourth-largest automaker by revenue, sold 23,548 vehicles last month, up from 22,067 a year ago. The gain came from higher sales of Mazda5 compact minivans, CX-7 and CX-9 crossovers and a new version of the Tribute SUV, supplied by affiliate Ford.

The Hiroshima-based company's market share rose to 2 percent from 1.8 percent.

Among smaller brands, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Subaru sales increased 0.2 percent, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. had a 6.4 percent decline and Suzuki Motor Corp.'s sales grew 2.5 percent.

Japanese truckmaker Isuzu Motors Ltd., which will stop selling passenger models in the U.S. next year, sold 790 pickups and SUVs, up from 559 a year ago.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 3, 2008 19:09 EST