Ford Motor sold more cars than General Motors in February, trumping its Detroit rival's monthly domestic sales total for the first time in 12 years.
Thanks at least partially to impact of recalls on sales at Toyota Motor ( TM - news - people ) dealerships, Ford Motor ( F - news - people ) reported a 43.1% jump from a year ago, selling 142,285 vehicles in February compared with 141,849 for GM. Both automakers reported a sharp increase from February 2009 levels--GM's sales were up 11.5%--when the industry suffered through its worst month in 19 years.
...
GM's February number represented a 32% improvement for its four core brands--Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac--but sales for the four brands that it is closing or selling dropped 86% to dull the overall figure.
....
Toyota said its sales were down 8.7% from a year earlier, to 100,027 vehicles, as recalls on a number of top models hurt performance. But the Japanese automaker isn't the only one with a recall in the works. GM announced Tuesday that it will recall 1.3 million vehicles to replace a motor in the power steering system. The recall will affect several compact car brands, including the Pontiac G5, Pontiac Pursuit, Pontiac G4 and the Chevrolet Cobalt.
----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/02/auto-sales-ford-markets-equities-gm-toyota.html?boxes=marketschannelnews