U.S. car sales shot up this February, according to the reports of a couple of carmakers.
All in all, the industry sold vehicles at an annualized rate of over 17.7 million vehicles, a figure that's about the same as the record set last year.
Notable brands that enjoyed an increase this month are Ford and Fiat Chrysler. Manufacturers in Asia also made the list, including Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Subaru.
Regarding the specifics, Ford had a 20.2 percent rise and Fiat at 11.8 percent. Sales of Toyota went up by 4.1 percent, Nissan by 10.5 percent, Honda by 12.8 percent, Hyundai by 1 percent, Kia by 13 percent and Subaru by 1.6 percent.
As everyone can see, Ford has the highest in the entire list, and analysts say that it's because of how consumers are interested in almost every model the brand has to offer.
"Ford's growth in almost every category confirms its success in meeting demand throughout the new-vehicle market," Karl Brauer, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book, says.
Considering how it's a leap year this time around, it was more or less expected that sales would go up because of the extra day involved. It was estimated to be an 8 percent rise. Of course, that's not the only factor that caused the surge in car sales.
"February had an extra day this year, but that alone can't account for the massive new vehicle sales reported last month," Brauer remarks.
Long story short, affordable gas and easy credit coupled with a steady demand to trade up older vehicles for new ones are the main factors that caused improvements in terms of sales across manufacturers.
However, on the other side of the fence, General Motors and Volkswagen reported declining sales. GM sold approximately 227,825 vehicles in February, and that translates to a 1.5 percent downturn. Meanwhile, Volkswagen sold roughly 34,186, equaling to an 8.7 percent decrease.
Now, Volkswagen's results shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as it was part of an emission test scandal. As a result, U.S. regulators forbade the carmaker from selling its diesel vehicles until it has provided a solution to the issue.
