Crossovers fuel April sales at BMW, Mini

Sales of crossovers fueled BMW and Mini in April, with Mini posting its best U.S. sales month ever.

Mini's April sales of 6,446 units were up 67.7 percent from a year ago. That included 1,709 units of the Countryman crossover. Mini cited the expanding appeal of small cars, due to rising gas prices, for its sales gain. For the year so far, sales are up 49.4 percent.

The BMW brand saw an 8.9 percent increase in April sales, to 18,801 units. Sales for the year are up 12.3 percent.

Driving that gain was the redesigned X3 SUV, up 253 percent from a year ago with 2,277 copies sold. The X5 was up 12.5 percent with 2,360 units sold.

By Michelle Koueiter