Vehicle sales up 3.7% in February

US new vehicle sales rose 3.7 percent in February from last year with light trucks showing a 7.8 percent increase, industry figures showed Friday. Automakers sold 612,953 passenger cars, up 0.1 percent from February 2012, and 579,296 light trucks, up 7.8 percent. Porsche Cars N.A. Inc. registered the biggest year-to-year increase, 30.5 percent, followed by Mitsubishi Motors N.A., 27.8 percent, and Daimler AG, 22.2 percent. General Motors Co. sold 224,314 vehicles in February, up 7.2 percent. Ford Motor Co. sold 195,310 vehicles, up 9.3 percent. Toyota sold 166,377 vehicles, up 4.3 percent. Chrysler sold 139,015 vehicles, up 4.1 percent. Volkswagen sales were up 8.4 percent, representing 42,554 vehicles. American Suzuki Motor Corp. saw a 42.3 percent drop in sales, Volvo saw its sales drop 7.5 percent and Nissan registered a 6.6 percent drop in sales. American Honda sold 107,987 vehicles, a drop of 2 percent.