• Detroit Free Press, Friday, March 2, 2007 11:30 AM

General Motors oft-maligned trucks were largely responsible for a 3.7% overall rise in February sales over a year ago, despite a flat U.S. market and disappointing results at rivals Ford and Chrysler Group. GM truck sales rose nearly 8% for the month, even while industry-wide Autodata Corp. reports that light truck sales grew just 0.2%. Excluding GM, light truck sales fell 2.5%.

GM did better than anyone expected," says Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com.

Analysts say the truck market, long the bread and butter of American automakers, will continue to be squeezed by vacillating fuel prices and a soft housing market. What's different for GM is that it has some of the freshest trucks on the market. In February, it increased incentives on some models just enough to woo shoppers into its showrooms.

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