Ford's U.S. sales up 39.8 percent in March

Ford Motor Co. sales rose 39.8 percent in March in the United States while Chrysler Group LLC posted an 8 percent decline, Detroit News reported.

Meanwhile, General Motors Co. said its vehicle sales jumped 21 percent in U.S. market last month, led by a 76 percent increase for its Buick brand and popular new launch vehicles.

Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealers sold 178,546 vehicles last month and the Dearborn automaker said its retail market share rose for the 17th time in the last 18 months.

The monthly increase was fueled by the Ford Fusion, sales of which jumped 79 percent compared to a year earlier. Mercury Milan sales rose 71 percent.

Chrysler, meanwhile, sold 92,623 vehicles last month. Honda Motor Co. sold 108,262 vehicles last month -- a 22 percent increase from a year earlier.

Fred Diaz, head of sales for Chrysler, said last week March sales could be down as much as 12 percent from a year ago when the automaker was piling on the incentives.

Last month, sales of GM's four core brands -- Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac -- spiked 43 percent, for total sales of 185,406 vehicles, and the Detroit automaker posted its sixth consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains.

GMC sales climbed 45 percent last month, Cadillac 42 percent and Chevrolet 41 percent.

Toyota Motor Corp. has boosted incentives to combat big recalls that prompted U.S. safety regulators to order a brief halt in sales of its most popular models, and the Japanese automaker is expected to post about a 40 percent increase in sales.

Ford Motor Co. also is expected to announce double-digit spikes in sales.