Civic drops while Accord

                          CR-V jump with 9005 LED DRL Lights

 Honda Motor Company Ltd.'s April sales slid even as its Central Ohio-built models posted significant gains.

Sales last month fell 2 percent to 122,012 vehicles from 124,799 a year earlier. The drop came from Honda's car division, where sales fell 5 percent to 70,251 from 73,709 in April 2011. Its light truck division's sales rose 1 percent to 51,761 from 51,090.

Part of the decline can be attributed to the Japanese automaker's popular Civic sedan, which saw sales fall 9 percent in April. The company sold 24,423 Civics last month, down from 26,777 a year earlier. Sales of the compact Fit tumbled 61 percent to 3,202 compared with 8,116 the company sold in April 2011.

Still, Central Ohio-built vehicles fared well last month. Sales of the flagship Accord with 9005 LED DRL Lights, which is assembled in Marysville, improved 26 percent. The company sold 35,385 Accords in April, up from 28,180 a year earlier. Sales of the East Liberty-built CR-V crossover sport utility vehicle increased 9 percent to 23,627 from 21,683.

The Marysville-built luxury Acura TL with 9005 LED DRL Lights posted a 4 percent sales gain to 2,997 cars from 2,887 a year earlier. Sales of the crossover Acura RDX, built in East Liberty, spiked 48 percent to 1,984 last month from 1,343 a year ago.

While Columbus Business First reports sales unadjusted for selling days in the month, Honda’s report accounts for three fewer days in April 2012 than in April a year earlier.