focus

Ford reported Tuesday that its sales in February rose 14% compared to a year ago, in part due to strong sales of the revamped Ford Explorer sports-utility vehicle, the Fusion midsized sedan and the Ford Escape compact SUV. Total sales for the month hit 156,626.

Sales at Ford Motor rose 24% in November compared to a year ago as demand surged for a wide range of the company's products, the automaker said Wednesday. For the month, Ford said it moved 147,338 vehicles off dealers' lots, up from 118,536 in November 2009.

Ford said Friday it plans to offer permanent positions to 500 temporary workers at a plant in Saarlouis, Germany, that will build the next-generation Focus compact car, which begins production next month. The plant will be the only supplier of the new Focus model to Western Europe.

The U.S. automaker reported a $1.7 billion profit on strong demand for its revamped line of products, despite a lackluster economy. Continued growth at its Ford Credit finance unit also helped push profits higher.

The thrifty new small car replaces the underwhelming Chevy Cobalt, a model that had a hard time competing with the likes of Toyota's Corolla and Ford's Focus, new versions of which are due in coming months. A manual transmission model will have a 40-mpg highway rating.

Ford Motor reported Tuesday that sales of its vehicles rose 33 percent in December compared to a year ago. Sales for the full year, however, were down 15 percent compared to 2008. In the last month of the year, each Ford brand saw improved sales, and the company increased its domestic market share by a full percentage point.

While the top 10 clunker trade-ins are U.S. brands, 53 percent of the new cars purchased are foreign brands. Ford Focus is the top seller, but the American car is followed by the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Toyota Prius and Toyota Camry. That's probably no surprise because the widest choice for...