It's not as if the former "Big Three' are blowing their horns and moving permanently into the financial passing lane, but the numbers are impressive, and corporate confidence is building.
Ford Motor Company says US sales accelerated 43% in February over the same month last year, and 8,000 of the vans it produces in Avon Lake were sold last month - a 26% increase.
General Motors reported February sales up across the board; with the four brands it plans to keep - Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC - up 32% over a year ago.
Chrysler says it's sales were up by a small amount; for its Dodge, and Jeep brands too; but are the company's first year-to-year increases in more than two years....
Robert Ebert is an economics professor at Baldwin Wallace college who studies the automotive industry...
PROFESSOR ROBERT EBERT:
"It's not surprising that overall sales are up and it does look like there is some crossover from people who might have been buying Toyotas, moving over to Ford and GM."
The Toyota recall of more than eight million cars could not have been better timed for beleaguered American auto makers he says. It's top selling Camry model sales were down 20% in February. Ford and Chevrolet leadership openly credited parts of their increases, to Toyota's temporary shutdown.
But the biggest winner may be the Chevrolet Cobalt, produced solely in Lordstown. 14,000 Cobalts sold last month is 70% better than February '09, coming even as the company prepares to shift production, to the new Cruze model.
Ebert says it's very encouraging news for Northeast Ohio plants which had been struggling; and for the overall economy.
Rick Jackson, 90.3.
