Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. led U.S. sales gains for Asia-based automakers in August, while Toyota Motor Corp. overtook Ford Motor Co. to rank No. 2 in the market.

The advances by Honda and Nissan helped Japanese and South Korean carmakers boost their combined market share 1.1 points to 42.2 percent last month, according to Bloomberg data. Toyota vaulted past Ford while reporting a back-to-back monthly sales decline for the first time in more than two years.

``This is the new reality, Toyota will be No. 2 in the U.S.,'' said Rebecca Lindland, a forecaster at Lexington, Massachusetts-based Global Insight Inc. ``Ford's market share does stabilize at some point in the future, but Toyota just continues to grow. This is probably permanent.''

Asian brands lifted their volume by more than 12,000 units, as high gasoline prices continued to spur demand for fuel- efficient small cars. Total U.S. sales fell just 0.6 percent from August 2006 levels, defying analysts' forecasts for a plunge in sales triggered by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.

``It's a bit too early to tell what the impact of the subprime lending situation is for our sales,'' Mark McNabb, chief of North American sales for Tokyo-based Nissan, said in an interview yesterday.

U.S. consumers bought 1.48 million new vehicles last month, down from 1.49 million a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp.

General Motors Corp., the largest automaker, posted a surprise 6.2 percent increase. Ford's sales declined 14 percent. Chrysler LLC, in its first results since being shed by DaimlerChrysler AG, reported a 6.1 percent drop. The three Detroit automakers combined had 24,000 fewer sales for the month.

Toyota

Toyota's sales fell 2.8 percent to 233,471. Declines were led by Corolla small cars and Yaris subcompacts. The Yaris dropoff resulted from limited inventory, Bob Carter, head of U.S. sales for the Toyota brand, said in a conference call.

Weaker demand in California, Toyota's biggest market, was partially to blame for the August slowdown, Carter said. ``There is a lack of confidence over where the economy is heading,'' he said. Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota ``would welcome'' an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

Toyota now leads Ford by 6,698 sales through August after trailing by 330,911 after eight months a year earlier. Ford has been No. 2 in the U.S. behind GM since 1931.

``We don't see any significance in it,'' Toyota's Carter said.

Ranking Less Important

Wendy Trevisani, who helps manage an $11 billion equity portfolio for Thornburg Investment Management in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said the change in ranking is less important than Toyota's fundamentals.

``Surpassing Ford doesn't make us any more or less optimistic'' about Toyota, said Trevisani, whose fund is the sixth-biggest holder of its American depositary receipts.

Market share for the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands was 15.8 percent last month, down from 16.1 percent a year earlier.

Toyota's American depositary receipts rose $1.27 to $116.95 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday.

Honda, Nissan

Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, sold 158,342 vehicles in August, a record for a single month, the company said. The 4.7 percent increase was led by Fit subcompacts, mid- size Accords and CR-V small crossover-utility vehicles, Tokyo- based Honda said.

Honda, fifth in the U.S., may be the next Asian brand to rise in U.S. sales rankings, said Jesse Toprak, director of market forecasting for Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, California.

``Honda has an opportunity to catch up with Chrysler in terms of market share,'' Toprak said in an interview. ``If Chrysler truly changes production schedules and Honda keeps growing as they have, we could see that change in two or three years.''

Honda's market share in August rose a half point to 10.7 percent, just behind No. 4 Chrysler's 11.4 percent.

Nissan, sixth in the U.S., sold 95,527 vehicles. Demand for midsize Altima cars grew to 25,434, helped by the addition of the new coupe version, sales chief McNabb said. ``We did 3,228 units of the Altima Coupe, and that's really helped pick things up.''

Nissan's market share also improved a half point, to 6.5 percent, as sales rose an identical 6.5 percent.

Honda's American depositary receipts rose 57 cents to $33.49 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. Nissan's ADRs rose 12 cents to $19.22 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.

Hyundai, Kia

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, sold 45,087 vehicles, up 1 percent from a year earlier. The Seoul- based company's market share rose 0.1 point to 3.1 percent.

Kia Motors Corp., a Hyundai affiliate, raised sales 7 percent to 26,874 vehicles, the company said in a statement. Kia's market share improved to 1.8 percent from 1.7 percent.

Mazda Motor Corp., a Ford affiliate, reported selling 24,762 vehicles, up 11 percent from a year ago. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. raised sales 19 percent to 13,020, the Tokyo-based company's biggest gain of the year.

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Subaru, a Toyota affiliate, said sales fell 6.9 percent to 16,573. Suzuki Motor Corp. had a 6.2 percent sales increase to 8,916 vehicles. Isuzu Motors Ltd., a Tokyo-based truckmaker, sold 606 light trucks, down 1.9 percent.

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

Last Updated: September 4, 2007 20:52 EDT