US auto sales sped up in April, but gains came mainly from Japanese carmakers, with General Motors and Ford hurt by waning demand for gasoline-hungry sport utility vehicles, sales data showed Tuesday.

Overall vehicle sales increased 5.7 percent in April from a year ago to 1,504,168 units, according to Autodata Corp. figures. That represents an annualized rate of 17.46 million from 16.6 million in April 2004.

The data confirmed a trend toward more fuel-efficient vehicles in the face of crude oil and gasoline prices hitting record levels in April.

But the report showed mixed fortunes for different automakers, with sharp increases for Toyota and Nissan and sluggish sales for Ford and GM, which are struggling to sell the large SUVs that have become less popular with surging fuel costs.

"Obviously higher gasoline prices have driven consumers away from SUVs," said Jason Schenker, an analyst at Wachovia Securities, saying that pump prices of around 2.50 dollars a gallon are starting to hit consumers.