U.S. Toyota sales soar in February; Ford slumps

Toyota’s U.S. sales climbed 12.2 percent in February and Honda and Nissan posted modest increases while struggling Ford and DaimlerChrysler lost more ground to the Japanese manufacturers. Industry leader General Motors managed a 3.7 percent increase, however.

Despite Toyota’s sales gains, Ford still managed to finish ahead of its Japanese rival in number of vehicles sold despite a 13.5 percent decline for the month in its home market.

Ford said Thursday it sold 210,194 light vehicles in February, while Toyota sold 187,330 vehicles.

Meanwhile, Honda said its U.S. sales rose 3.2 percent on stronger sales of its trucks and Nissan rose 1.2 percent. DaimlerChrysler sales fell 7.7 percent.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s car sales rose 21.1 percent to 106,429, while truck sales rose 2.4 percent to 80,901.

Sales of its Prius hybrid surged 86.8 percent to 12,227, while Camry sales increased 17.5 percent to 32,148 and Corolla sales rose 12.9 percent to 28,321.

Ford blamed its sales performance on a 30 percent reduction in fleet sales, while German-American DaimlerChrysler cited lower demand for vehicles from its U.S.-based Chrysler Group.

GM, the world’s biggest automaker, said consumer demand was strong for its pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Its fleet sales dropped 18 percent last month as a result of a planned 25 percent reduction in daily rental sales, but the decrease was offset by an 11 percent increase in retail sales.

Many analysts expect Toyota to take Ford’s No. 2 spot in U.S. sales this year, after its sales surpassed Ford’s in two months in 2006.