GM's April U.S. sales rise 6.9 percent

DETROIT - General Motors (GM) says its April U.S. sales rose 6.9 percent as a string of embarrassing recalls had little impact.

The Detroit automaker says it sold just over 254,000 cars and trucks for the month, led by the Buick brand with a 12 percent increase.

GM's results show that auto sales are rebounding after being depressed earlier in the year by harsh winter weather. Crosstown rival Chrysler also reported a big increase at 14 percent.

GM was led by the Buick Encore small SUV with sales up 48 percent from a year ago. Sales of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup, GM's top-selling vehicle, rose 8.5 percent to nearly 43,000.

Since February GM has announced recalls of about 7 million vehicles including 2.6 million small cars for a deadly ignition switch defect.