Updated 8:30 p.m. ET

Car sales stumbled in July but were still surprisingly steady, given the weak consumer confidence in the shaky U.S. economy.

General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) couldn't beat their sales from a year earlier. Chrysler was the only Detroit automaker to post a gain. But their Japanese rivals surged, continuing to recover from last year's earthquake.

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Overall sales were enough to keep the industry on track to sell 14.09 million vehicles this year, according to industry tracking firm Autodata -- about what economists were expecting. That's up from a light-vehicle sales rate of 12.4 million units a year earlier.

GM missed expectations by selling only 201,237 vehicles in July, a drop of 6.4% from a year earlier. Analysts were expecting anywhere from a slight loss to a 2.1% gain. Sales to retail customers dropped 3%, but the automaker was hurt by a 41% drop in sales to rental fleet customers.

GM had estimated that rental sales would plunge in July because its planned deliveries took place earlier this year. The Cruze compact and the Malibu sedan weren't as popular in July and saw double-digit drops in sales from a year earlier. Still, GM's stock price essentially closed flat Wednesday at $19.66.

Ford sales fell 3.8% from a year earlier to 173,966, disappointing analysts who were expecting a very small gain. The company attributed the drop to a slowdown in rental sales, posting a 16% decline in fleet sales and a 2% gain in retail sales.

The Ford Fusion saw a 21% bump in sales to about 23,300 sold -- the best July ever for that car. Ford's share price closed unchanged at $9.19 Wednesday.

Sales were propped up in July by a change of heart on the part of auto lenders, who were willing to work with buyers with lower credit scores, Reuters reported. The improved financing helped buyers who previously had been shut out of the auto market.

Sales at Chrysler rose 13% to 126,089, beating the forecast by Edmunds but slightly missing estimates from Barclays Capital and RBC Capital Markets, Reuters reported. Buyers had strong interest in the Ram pickup and the Chrysler 200 sedan.

Here's how the other automakers fared in July:

Toyota
Units sold: 164,898
Change from a year earlier: 26.1% gain
Of note: Edmunds expected to see a 30% increase in sales. Shares of Toyota's ADRs closed essentially flat at $76.71.

Nissan
Units sold: 98,341
Change from a year earlier: 16.2% gain
Of note: Big push for the Infiniti luxury line, which saw sales rise 57%.

Hyundai
Units sold: 62,021
Change from a year earlier: 4.1% gain
Of note: Sales would have been better, but there were ongoing shortages of the Accent, Elanta and Sonata models.

Volkswagen
Units sold: 37,014
Change from a year earlier: 27.3% gain
Of note: Sales were helped by big incentives. Volkswagen was offering zero percent financing on most 2012 models, according to The Associated Press.