(March 2, 2016) U.S. new-car sales grew 6.8 percent in February to 1.3 million vehicles — the best February in volume terms since 2001. The annual adjusted sales rate was 17.53 million, the best rate for a February since 2000. The SAAR a year ago was 16.39 million.

Ford, paced by gains across the board, surged 20 percent. Fiat Chrysler rode strong demand for Rams and Jeeps to a 12 percent increase. Honda said sales improved 13 percent to 118,985 while Nissan said its sales grew 11 percent to 130,911. Both Honda and Nissan said they set records for the month.

General Motors, meanwhile, said sales fell 1.5 percent, a surprising decline that the company attributed to a 39 percent cutback in deliveries to fleet customers. GM said retail sales rose 6.6 percent.

Toyota said sales grew 4.1 percent to 187,954 vehicles.

“Light trucks continue to drive strong demand in 2016,” Bill Fay, general manager for the Toyota division, said in a statement. "The Toyota division had back-to-back, best-ever light truck monthly records, supported by another best-ever month in February for RAV4 (up 16 percent to 25,523).”

Toyota's luxury brand Lexus said sales inched up 1 percent to 23,234 units, which was good enough to win the monthly luxury sales race over Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

As expected, Volkswagen AG said its VW brand sales plunged during the month, down 13 percent to 22,321 vehicles, in the wake of the company's emissions cheating scandal that emerged last September. But VW's Audi luxury brand remained largely isolated from the scandal, posting a 2.3 percent gain to 11,718 vehicles, the brand's 62nd consecutive month of record U.S. sales.

FCA US sold 182,879 vehicles last month, its 71st consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases. FCA said its February sales were the highest since 2006.

Leading the way for FCA was the Ram brand, with sales climbing 27 percent, on the strength of a 23 percent climb in Ram pickup sales. Jeep saw a 23 percent increase thanks in part to the addition of the Jeep Renegade to its lineup. The Dodge brand also had a sales increase in February, while the company’s namesake Fiat and Chrysler brands’ sales fell.

Ford said it was the company’s best February ever for crossover and SUV sales, which rose 29 percent to 70,328. Truck sales rose 14 percent, and car sales were up 19 percent. The Lincoln brand achieved a 30 percent gain, with sales of the MKX crossover more than doubling from a year ago.

On the truck said, F-series sales increased 10 percent to 60,697 units.

GM's report was led by Buick's 2.3 percent improvement, paced by the Encore's 19 percent boost. Cadillac sales increased 1 percent, led by Escalade's 22 percent boost.

Sources: Automotive News, manufacturers