TORONTO - Automakers experienced mixed Canadian sales for April, with declines of between 10 and 37 per cent for the major players -- and year-over-year gains for some brands, notably the Koreans.

Overall industry sales were 17.8 per cent below the year-ago level at 143,931, according to a tally Friday by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.

Market leader General Motors fell 23.6 per cent to 29,476 units, while Chrysler plunged 36.8 per cent to 15,242. Chrysler filed for U.S. court protection from creditors Thursday, and GM faces a June 1 deadline to restructure or confront insolvency.

"It was a tough month," observed Chrysler Canada president Reid Bigland.

"The constant speculation questioning our long-term viability made me feel like we were playing with one arm tied behind our backs."

However, Bigland said "most of the heavy lifting associated with our restructuring process (is) complete," and he noted that sales of the Windsor, Ont.-built Dodge Grand Caravan minivan were up 24 per cent over April 2008.

Ford of Canada recorded a 10.5 per cent sales decline from April 2008 to 18,828 units. Ford gained market share and said sales of its midsize Fusion sedan were up 24 per cent while the top-selling F-150 pickup pulled ahead 17 per cent.

Toyota was second in overall sales for the month despite a 17.9 per cent decline from a year ago. It moved 19,599 Toyotas and 1,621 Lexus luxury products.

"The Canadian automotive market is showing renewed confidence, and strong sales of the Toyota RAV4 and Yaris series point to this change," stated Toyota Canada director Warren Orton.

Honda sales were down 28 per cent from record year-ago results at 11,865 and Acura fell 36 per cent to 1,430. Looking on the bright side, Honda Canada executive vice-president Jerry Chenkin commented that sales were down only 12 per cent from April 2007.

Nissan fell 20.1 per cent to 7,074, including Infiniti.

The news wasn't all glum, as Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Subaru boasted record sales.

Kia sold 4,276 vehicles, up 15 per cent from a year ago for the best month in the South Korean carmaker's 10 years in Canada. Its boxy new Soul small crossover posted 1,017 sales in its second month on the market.

Kia's Korean stablemate Hyundai boosted its deliveries by 14.8 per cent to 10,809.

Canadians bought 2,267 new Mercedes-Benzes, up 21.3 per cent from April of last year. The German premium automaker moved 601 of its new GLK chunky crossovers.

And Japan-based Subaru said it sold 2,050 of its all-wheel-drive cars and crossovers, up 4.1 per cent from last April and 2.4 per cent above its previous best-ever month last July.

Also showing year-over-year sales gains were Germany's Volkswagen, up 3.4 per cent to 3,496, and its luxury subsidiary Audi, up 10.9 per cent at 1,251.