After 2007, it was the best year for US auto sales and among the leading winners were the car companies from Detroit.

On Friday, automakers said that in spite of weaker-than-expected results in December, the industry sold 15.6 million new cars and trucks in 2013 which represent a healthy 7.6 per cent boost over the previous year.

The largest two gainers for the year were Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group. General Motors Co., the biggest domestic carmaker too solidified its comeback this year.

On Friday automakers said that sales of new vehicles slowed down in December, but not enough to reduce solid overall gains the industry made in 2013.

Industry executives estimated that sales for the month grew about 3 percent from levels a year ago. While sales began slowly in December, the executives stated that after the Christmas holiday showroom traffic picked up considerably.

Still, the month capped the industry's best overall year since 2007, as US consumers and businesses kept a steady pace of replacing older cars and trucks with new models. Kurt McNeil, head of US sales for General Motors Co., the largest American automaker, called 2013 "the year that GM and the auto industry put the last traces of the recession in the rear view mirror."