THE ECONOMY : January Sales of Cars and Trucks Take Off : Autos: Cold weather, quake fail to dampen momentum. Big Three sales together climb 14.8% for the month.

Neither the frigid weather in the eastern part of the nation nor the California earthquake stalled the auto industry’s momentum in January.

Figures released by the auto makers Thursday show total car and truck sales--including vehicles built in the United States and abroad--were up 14.3% for the month. January’s cold typically makes it a slow month for auto sales, and analysts were expecting worse results because of record low temperatures.

Big Three vehicle sales combined were up 14.8% for the month, compared to an 11.4% improvement for Japanese auto makers and a 24.4% improvement for European and Korean auto makers, whose volume is much smaller.

“I think these are excellent numbers, considering how bad the weather was,” Salomon Bros. analyst Jack Kirnan said. “We are in the big ‘B.’ We are in a boom period.”

On a seasonally adjusted basis, domestically built cars sold at an annual rate of 7.3 million, with imported cars accounting for another 1.8 million. Domestically built light trucks, which include minivans, pickups and sport utility vehicles, sold at a record annual pace of nearly 5.9 million, about 600,000 ahead of last January.

“Everything is coming together,” Kirnan said. “Used car prices are staying high, interest rates are at record lows, massive replacement pressures for cars are continuing and employer and consumer sentiment is strong.”

Domestic auto makers, who lost 71,000 units of car and truck production in January due to the record cold, are moving to make up for those losses. They have added 111,000 cars and trucks to February and March production plans, according to the trade journal Ward’s Automotive Reports.

“Credit the public acceptance of Chrysler’s products and the continued strength of the economy for the strong month,” said Theodor Cunningham, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Chrysler Corp.

Chrysler’s 17.9% increase in truck sales led to the No. 3 auto maker’s strongest January sales in four years. Car sales were up just 1.3% for an overall improvement of 10.9%.

General Motors Corp. said its truck sales were the best in history. Full-size pickups were up 45% from last year, leading to 21.9% higher overall truck sales. Five of six car divisions reported higher sales, contributing to a 13.6% improvement.

Ford Motor Co. had a robust 34% increase in truck sales but a meager 1.2% improvement in car sales.