Auto manufacturers in the US have reported their strongest sales for five years in the month of March 2013. The recent situation has prompted some analysts to lift their US estimates for the full year. The sales figures for General Motors rose to 6.4%, while Ford was up by 5.7%. On the other hand, Chrysler went up by 5% over the previous year.

The increase in the sales was due to rising consumer confidence amidst healthy stock and housing market gains in the recent months. On the other hand, foreign car makers like Toyota and Nissan posted just a 1% increase over the previous year. The improved market situation prompted Edmunds.com, an automotive researcher to raise its 2013 sales forecast to 15.5 million.

Moreover, manufacturers are still calculating sales and the full results for the month are expected to be out soon. Edmunds.com estimated that the industry has sold 5.3% more units than a year ago and 24% more than the month of February.

Lacey Plache, the chief economist at Edmunds.com said, “Even though consumer confidence has been up and down so far this year, there are ‘wealth effects’ that are making Americans feel comfortable finally buying the new cars they’ve been waiting for”. Among the smaller companies, Subaru reported a sales increase of 13.3 %.