Mazda U.S. sales increase in January

Mazda Motor Corp. said Wednesday that its U.S. vehicle sales rose 7 percent in January, led by strong growth for its Mazda3 and MX-5 Miata.

The company sold 18,177 autos last month, up from 17,060 in January 2004. Mazda3 sales climbed 16 percent to 6,109 units and MX-5 Miata sales basically doubled to 1,067 autos.

This made up for a 3 percent decline in Mazda6 sales to 5,182 units and a general drop for the company's truck models.

The Japanese automaker is partly owned by Ford Motor Co.