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Despite its troubles in recent years, Toyota retained its crown in Consumer Reports' annual survey of auto-brand perception, but the survey also showed that Ford is rapidly closing the gap, and other brands aren't far behind.

A slowly brightening economy combined with low financing rates and generally stable fuel prices have put consumers in a buying mood. New models, particularly from Ford and GM, are also helping to keep U.S. auto sales on a positive trajectory as 2011 starts.

Toyota's recent spate of quality woes have allowed competitors to steal sales from the beleaguered automaker. Ford is also catching up with Toyota in another important measure of auto industry success -- consumers' opinions of vehicle brands.

The nation's automakers ended 2010 strong, with most reporting higher sales for December. Consumers seemed to put concerns about the U.S. economy on hold and more than offset reduced demand by fleet customers, such as corporations and rental-car companies.

The economy may be less robust than most Americans would like, but that didn't stop many of them from hitting the showrooms in December. That likely propelled auto sales in the final month of 2010 to 1.13 million units, the year's highest levels.

BMW saw its sales jump 20% in November, driven by growth in Germany, China and the U.S. The German automaker sold more cars than the Mercedes-Benz or Audi brands. Its sales growth for the year so far also is outpacing that of its rivals.

It's traditionally one of the slowest months of the year for vehicle sales, but most automakers reported higher U.S. sales in November compared to a year ago, despite continued consumer caution about the slow economic recovery.

Year-over-year gains are again likely when automakers report November U.S. sales figures Wednesday. But a drop from this October's level is on tap. Detroit probably fared better than its foreign counterparts as sales rebounded further from last year's anemic levels.

Buoyed by consumers' increased confidence in the U.S. economy, most automakers reported higher sales of cars and trucks in the U.S. during October compared to a year ago -- making it the best October in three years for the auto industry.

Carmakers are expected to report a mixed picture for October sales: mostly better than a year ago, but down slightly from September. Still, the pace appears strong enough that the upper end of full-year forecasts is reachable.