DETROIT — Auto sales rose substantially in February despite surging gasoline prices, carmakers and analysts said Thursday.þþChrysler Group said its sales were up 40 percent from February 2011, while the Ford Motor Company reported a 14 percent gain.þþChrysler said passenger car sales more than doubled, helped in part by a high-profile Super Bowl ad featuring the actor Clint Eastwood. Ford said sales of its compact car, the Focus, jumped 115 percent.þþ“Our product portfolio now contains some of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in our company’s history,” Reid Bigland, Chrysler’s head of United States sales, said in a statement. “A few years ago, higher fuel prices were a major threat to our total vehicle sales, whereas today, those higher prices have become far less of an issue.”þþThrough Thursday, gas prices have risen for 23 consecutive days, according to the AAA motor club. The national average for regular gas is about $3.74 a gallon, 10 percent more than a year ago.þþStill, analysts projected that the industry’s selling rate in February climbed to one of the highest levels in nearly four years.þþFord’s chief sales analyst, Erich Merkle, said underlying demand for new vehicles was strong enough that gas prices were not deterring consumers from buying new vehicles. They are going ahead with their purchase but increasingly choosing smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, he said.þþMany people put off replacing their current car or truck during the recession and are now in a position where the vehicle needs to be replaced. The average age of a vehicle on the roads today is 10.8 years, the highest on record, according to the research firm R. L. Polk.þþ“Clearly at some point, gas prices would have a detrimental effect on the economy, but we’re not there yet,” Mr. Merkle said.þþIn fact, rising pickup truck sales are a positive sign for the economy, because those vehicles are often bought by builders and other businesses. Ford and Chrysler each said sales of their full-size pickups were up more than 20 percent.
Source: NY Times
