An energetic market for sports utility vehicles and pickups drove record sales in the U.S. for Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. in February, while Honda Motor Co. notched up double-digit percentage growth in passenger car sales, data showed Tuesday.

Drawn by low gas prices and interest rates, U.S. consumers flocked to showrooms to buy light trucks at rates that outpaced the total industry. U.S. research company Autodata Corp. said the segment was up nearly 13 percent in February, while the passenger car market contracted by 0.2 percent.

Automakers sold 1,344,225 units in the U.S. in February, 6.9 percent more than the year before. The total translates to 17.54 million units in seasonally adjusted annualized sales, according to Autodata.