Vehicle Sales Drop 2.2% in Mid-January : * Autos: But sales of Japanese products made in U.S. plants jump 21.6%.

Sales of North American-made vehicles dropped 2.2% in mid-January from a year ago, when the Persian Gulf War kept consumers home in front of their televisions, figures indicated Thursday.

The decline indicated continued softness in the auto market, analysts said. The most optimistic forecasts call for a modest rebound sometime this summer.

“There’s no recovery yet,” said analyst Douglas Laughlin of Bear, Stearns & Co. in New York.

Combined, the Big Three U.S. auto makers’ car and light truck sales during the Jan. 11-20 period dropped 4.9%. The drop would have been worse had it not been for a hefty increase in Ford Motor Co. truck sales.

Japanese companies reported a 21.6% sales increase from their North American plants during the period.

The reports come as “buy American” sentiment appears to be increasing in the United States. Any effects of a shift away from Japanese cars toward those made by the Big Three aren’t likely to show up soon, however, analysts said.

Laughlin said such moves will most likely be in segments popular with middle-class Americans, such as mid-size cars and minivans.

“When the middle market comes back, it will show up,” he said. “I think it coincides with the recovery.”

Thursday’s numbers do not include sales of imported cars and trucks. Those figures are reported monthly. January’s domestic and imported sales figures are due Feb. 4.

General Motors Corp. said its combined sales of North American-made cars and trucks fell 8% in mid-January. Ford reported a modest 0.1% increase.

Chrysler Corp.’s sales were estimated to have fallen 5.2% in mid-January. Chrysler reports sales only monthly. The Associated Press estimate of its mid-January sales is based on the company’s average monthly market share over the previous 12 months.

For the first 20 days of the year, sales of North American-made cars and trucks declined 4.2%. Big Three sales have dropped 5.8%, and Japanese sales have risen 12% so far this year.

“Overall, it says that consumer confidence is still depressed despite the interest rate cuts and because unemployment is high,” said auto analyst David Garrity of Nomura Research Institute of America Inc. in New York.

GM said its sales of domestic cars fell 9.9%, and truck sales dropped 3.6% during mid-January. During the first 20 days of the year, GM’s sales were running 9.4% behind last year.

Ford’s 8.8% decline in car sales was offset by an incentive-fueled 13.6% increase in truck sales. Through Jan. 20 of this year, Ford’s combined car and truck sales were running 1.2% ahead of last year’s pace, riding on the strength of truck sales.

Among the major Japanese companies, Honda and Toyota showed gains while Nissan and Mazda reported declines.

Honda’s mid-January sales rose 37.8% over last year, bringing its year-to-date increase to 26.4%. Toyota said its sales were up 44% for the period and 32.8% for the first 20 days of the year.