FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -

As the American International Automobile Dealers Association released figures that show import sales surging  this past month, one dealership chain’s sales results echos this trend.

AutoNation — which made it into Auto Remarketing’s "Top 125 Used-Car Dealer Groups" feature which can be found in the June 15  issue  — revealed Monday that new import sales are up by a significant 78 percent over last year for May, with 12,300 units making it off the lots.

And these sales made up a huge piece of the dealerships chain’s total new-car sales, which came in at 23,763 for May, marking a 45-percent rise year-over-year.

But imports weren’t the only segment on the rise. Domestics were up 21 percent versus May 2011, with 7,260 units sold.

Lastly, the premium luxury segment also saw a double-digit rise in sales, climbing 23 percent year-over year, with 4,203 units sold.

Japanese Brands on the Rise

And according to data released Monday by AIADA,  Japanese OEMs seem to be contributing, in particular, to the surge of foreign nameplate sales in the U.S.

In May, international brands accounted for 727,607 units sold, up from 654,086 in April, according to AIADA. And with 181,510 sales, Toyota held a significant sales lead for internationsl brands this past month.

And this number marked a 88.9-percent increase for Toyota versus May 2011. And for the automaker’s luxury arm, Lexus,  sales were up 74.4 percent

This bodes well for the automaker’s full recovery from the earthquake and tsunami last year that significantly impacted production.

And Toyota wasn’t the only Japanese automaker that finished up the month of May on a sales high.

Honda was up 46 percent, and Nissan and Infiniti were up 16.4 and 65.8 percent respectively, AIADA reported.

And as the Japanese brands continue to recover from last year’s natural disasters, AIADA contends many non-Japanese brands are losing “traction.”

For example, Hyundai went from 5.6 percent of the U.S. market in May 2011 to 5 percent last month; and General Motors dropped from 20.8 percent to 18.4 percent, AIADA officials shared.

Illustrating this point further, Asian nameplates occupied 45.4 percent of the U.S. auto market this past May, up slightly from 45.3 in April.

European nameplates dropped from 10 percent in April to 9.1 percent in May.

And domestic brands finished the month with a 45.5 percent share of the market, up from 44.8 in April, only just hanging on their lead over Asian OEMs.

And in light of the recent new-car sales surge, May might have been a bit of a let-down for those that were expecting fast growth.

Autodata Corp. estimated the SAAR at 13.8 million units in May; under the 14 million mark for the first time in 2012.

That said, sales for all brands, unadjusted for business days, rose 13.4 percent year over year, AIADA reported.

“Despite disappointing jobs numbers, Americans are still buying new cars,” said AIADA president Cody Lusk.

“A combination of new models, low gas prices and pent up demand are driving sales,” he noted.

And as pent-up demand pushes more customers to the lots, dealers could be seeing an influx of trade-ins, which could potentially help ease the shortage of quality used cars.

For more on this trend, see the Auto Remarketing story here.

Also, for more sales insight from dealership groups across the country, check the June 15  issue of Auto Remarketing for the "Top 125 Dealership Groups" feature. Within this feature, Auto Remarketing uses data and rankings provided by Automotive News Data Center, to highlight the top used-car dealer groups based on their total retail used-vehicle sales in 2011.

In addtion to showcasing the Top 10 on the list with info-graphics, Auto Remarketing has also spotlighted selected dealer groups throughout the 125 with more details on what makes them thrive in the used-car market.