In another grim milestone for the US automotive industry, Japanese carmaker Honda has overhauled Chrysler to grab fourth place in the sales league tables.

Asia-based brands continue to make inroads into North American car sales as the losses mount at Detroit's Big Three. Sales of American gas-guzzlers have stalled badly with the high oil price, leading to big sales increases for foreign rivals making more economical models.

Nissan chalked up a 14% gain to lift its share of August US sales to 47.3%, beating General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler for a fourth month. Toyota and Honda sales fell but by less than the American marques.

Toyota is a victim of its own success and sales have fallen as it struggles to keep up with demand for its hybrid Prius saloon. It recently said it was shifting a planned plant that had been earmarked for making SUVs to making the petrol-electric Prius.

Chrysler, which also makes the Dodge and Jeep brands, is the worst-off of the US firms with more than half of its volume made up of light trucks, sales of which have dived as fuel costs soar.

Honda's sales so far this year are up 1.7% while Chrysler's are down 24%.

Honda and Nissan are tipped as the only big carmakers that will post positive numbers in the US for the year.