SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

Even in the midst of rising fuel costs and their impact on purchasing decisions, new-vehicle transaction prices last month reached the highest level for any April on record, according to TrueCar.com. The site attributes this surge to a trio of factors, one of which was plunging incentives.

And while this combination of higher transaction prices and lower incentives is proving fruitful for automakers, the benefits may be short-lived.

“Manufacturers and dealers will benefit greatly from higher transaction prices and lower incentives due to higher customer demand and temporarily low vehicle inventory levels,” suggested TrueCar vice president of industry trends and insights Jesse Toprak. “But earnings could be negatively affected due to supply constraints over the summer months and beyond.”

Sharing some specifics about April transaction prices, TrueCar indicated that the average transaction price for the month came in at $29,583, narrowly edging out the record set last April (up 0.8 percent) and climbing 1 percent from March.

“Despite high gas prices causing near record-level purchases of fuel-efficient vehicles, we saw the highest industry average transaction price ever recorded in April,” Toprak noted.

“The increase in transaction price was due to the dramatic reduction in incentives, lower dealer discounts and consumer preference for better-equipped vehicles,” he added.

With the exception of Toyota (whose transaction prices dipped 0.2 percent), all of the seven major OEMs showed year-over-year gains. Ford (up 2.9 percent) showed the most growth, as its prices climbed to $32,461.

Chrysler (up 2.2 percent) was next. Its average transaction price hit $28,770.

Moving along, TrueCar also shared some more specific data regarding monthly incentives. The average incentive during the month was $2,386, marking an 11.4-percent year-over-year decline and a 4-percent sequential dip.

General Motors was the only one of the seven major OEMs to increase incentives on a year-over-year basis (up 5.8 percent), while Hyundai/Kia (down 33.1 percent) trimmed the highest percent off their incentives.

The ratio of incentives to average transaction price for the month came in at 8.1 percent, according to TrueCar’s estimate.

A year ago, the ratio was 9.2 percent and it hit 8.5 percent during March.

Continuing on, another metric that TrueCar touched on was TrueMPG, which is its gauge for fuel economy within the industry.

TrueCar expects that the average fuel economy for vehicles sold in April will hit 22.2 miles per gallon, up from a year ago when the TrueMPG came in at 21.1 mpg.

Breaking it down, the Big 3 was projected at 20.5 mpg, compared to 18.7 mpg a year ago. Europeans were at 21.9 mpg, up from 21 mpg and Japanese automakers forecasted to have  a fuel economy of 23.6 mpg, down from 23.8 mpg.

Korean brands were likely to climb to 26 mpg after hitting 25.2 mpg a year ago.

“Consumers are making a more conscious effort to purchase fuel-efficient vehicles, which resulted in the monthly average fuel economy increasing by over one mile per gallon for the industry,” noted Toprak.

“One mile per gallon improvement may seem insignificant at first glance but if 13 million vehicles are sold annually in the U.S., this translates into a reduction in fuel consumption of 416 million gallons or savings of about $1.6 billion every year,” he added.

Expected to show the most growth in average TrueMPG was Ford with a 1.9-mpg jump. Ford’s April fuel economy is predicted at 21.1 mpg.

TrueCar Purchases Honk.com

In other news from the company, TrueCar bought auto social media company Honk.com in a transaction revealed Tuesday. The financial details of the deal were not revealed.

Under the deal, News Corp., an early investor in the social media site, will now have an equity stake in TrueCar. Additionally, News Corp. will turn to TrueCar to operate and manage auto-related programs for several other of its online offerings.

“The addition of Honk to the TrueCar family gives us the power to build an unprecedented kind of social network — a Facebook for car buyers where trustworthy, unbiased information is shared freely, and consumer confidence is reinforced by the community,” shared Scott Painter, TrueCar’s founder and chief executive officer.

“With more than a quarter million cars sold and a billion dollars saved by consumers through TrueCar, we have helped validate our core philosophy centered on real, upfront pricing and radical clarity, and with this agreement, TrueCar is further positioned for rapid growth and expansion,” Painter added.

“At Honk, we consider ourselves to be the consumer’s voice in the auto industry,” said Honk co-founder Tom Taira. “Our message of empowerment is totally consistent with that found in the upfront pricing, data-driven model perfected by TrueCar.

“In addition, we feel the car-buying process should be simple, engaging and fun — three principles that form much of the foundation of the TrueCar car-shopping experience,” he concluded.