Ford and Nissan have released figures showing that automotive sales for their respective companies continued to slide in the US last month.

Nissan revealed that vehicle sales fell by 4.2 per cent in April to just over 60,000 cars and trucks.

However, Jed Connelly, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Nissan North America, remained upbeat, saying the company was 'very optimistic going into the spring and summer months'.

Meanwhile Ford announced it too had seen new car and truck sales drop in April, recording a fall on figures for March.

Ford's American brands, including Lincoln and Mercury, reported a drop of 6.9 per cent in vehicle sales in April.

Like Nissan, however, Ford group vice president of North America marketing, sales and service, Jim O'Connor, said he believed an upturn was imminent.

Referring to readings which suggested consumer confidence was on the way back up, Mr O'Connor declared: 'A more confident consumer enhances the prospect that consumer spending will improve in the second half of the year.'