DETROIT - For Toyota, U.S. February sales were conveniently reported last Tuesday, while much of the automotive press were in Geneva. It was convenient timing for General Motors, too. The erstwhile automotive giant reorganized its divisional executives on the same day we learned that Ford Motor Company sales in the U.S. exceeded GM sales in February, for the first time since 1998 - if you count Volvo sales as part of Ford (which I haven't, until now). As I noted from Geneva earlier this week, Ford may be reconsidering its pending deal to sell Volvo to China's Geely.

The Explorer was largely responsible for FoMoCo beating GM in '98, and it's hard to imagine a large sport/utility vehicle - body-on-frame or crossover - leading such a win today. In recent years, GM has had trouble offering up a single-model bestseller, because most popular models also were Pontiacs, Saturns and Buicks as well as Chevrolets.

No more, and this is why heads rolled just as last month's sales were reported. GM's new, constantly shifting management, has said it expects to catch Pontiac and Saturn buyers with its latest Chevy and Buick offerings, which means it expects to hold on to about 21-percent market share. It should have benefitted from Toyota's problems, which includes the fact that some buyers were scared off last month, while others couldn't buy certain models for more than a week as Toyota froze sales while it fixed throttle problems.

Leave out Volvo's sales from Ford and sales of 3,102 Pontiacs, Saturns, Saabs and Hummers from GM, and GM edges out Ford by 1,205 units. We're falling into the model I've long mentioned; North America, like Western Europe, will be dominated by three major automakers (not necessarily the same ones for each market) taking about 18-percent market share each. Toyota isn't cooperating in that plan for the U.S. for the moment, though.

A huge percentage increase in Fusion sales certainly has something to do with the fact that Ford was clearing out old '09 models this time last year as it prepared for the much-improved '10 model, Motor Trend's Car of the Year. But even with sales just short of the Camry and Fusion, it's obvious GM needs to do something about the Malibu as it talks about how important the Chevrolet brand is to the company's future. If the new Buick LaCrosse is any indication, the shift from Epsilon I to the Epsilon II platform could help, although that's at least two years off.

Here's a quick look at America's Big Six. I'll be back with a full report on March sales in early April ...

Ford: 142,285, up 43.1 percent.
* F-Series sold 32,895, up 39.3 percent. GM wasn't even close, with 27,118 for Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra combined. Chrysler sold 10,267 Ram pickups (-29 percent), Toyota sold 5,468 Tundras (-4.5 percent) and Nissan sold 1,721 Titans (+14.1 percent).
* After F-Series, Fusion was the next-bestseller, then Escape, up 50.2 percent, to 15,156.
* Then Focus, up 38.4 percent, to 13,708. Taurus was up 93.3 percent (again, compared with an outgoing model), to 6,359 and outsold Mustang.
* Subtract Volvo's 4,641 sold (+38.3 percent) and FoMoCo moved 137,644, up 43.3 percent.


GM: 141,951, up 11.5 percent.
* Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac accounted for 138,849 of that, up 32.2 percent.
* Chevy Camaro leads its segment, at 6,482 units, versus 5,115 Ford Mustangs (-71.1 percent) and 2,145 Dodge Challengers (-35 percent). Hyundai does not break out coupe sales from Genesis, which sold 1,762 last month.
* Chevy Silverado was 19,822, up 0.2 percent. Sierra was 6,296, off 1.6 percent.
* At Cadillac, car sales fell, with CTS down 17.5 percent to 2,690, while sport/utility sales were up. SRX rose 541.7 percent (yes, that's right) to 3,542, making it the most popular Cadillac model, and Escalade was 1,418, up 14.5 percent. Escalade ESV was up 32.7 percent, to 552 and the EXT was off 38.6 percent, to 102.


Toyota/Lexus/Scion: 100,027, off 8.7 percent.
* Corolla, at 16,996 (-6.1 percent) outsold Camry's 16,552 (-19.8 percent).
* Prius was up 10.2 percent, to 7,968.
* RAV4 was down 19 percent, to 6,799.
* Toyota division, including Scion, was off 10.3 percent, to 52,827.
* Scion accounted for just 3,027 units among three models.
* Lexus was up 5.2 percent, to 13,787.
* Gainers included Tacoma, up 5.7 percent, to 8,325, 4Runner, up 54.7 percent to 2,973, Lexus GX, up 185.5 percent, to 1,473 and Lexus LS, up 14.1 percent, to 799.


Chrysler: 84,449, up 0 percent, or +399 vehicles.

* Losing the hood strakes continues to be to Chrysler's advantage, with the Sebring up 118 percent, to 3,160. Dodge Avenger was up 78 percent, to 3,442.
* Chrysler 300 was up 62 percent, to 4,487. Dodge Charger was up 55 percent, to 10,363, and it looks like they're still selling cop cars.
* Jeep Patriot was up 38 percent, to 2,986. Grand Cherokee was up 40 percent, to 6,614. All other Jeeps were down.
* Wrangler, for example, fell 34 percent, to 5,967.
* Dodge Journey was off 10 percent, to 4,139, though Caravan was up 4 percent, to 9,390.

Honda/Acura: 80,671, up 16.7 percent.
* Honda division was up 12.7 percent, to 71,732, while Acura was up 16.7 percent, to 8,939.
* Acura's cars all were down, while its SUVs were up. MDX rose 64.9 percent, to 3,266, for example.
* Civic was up 5 percent, to 16,471.
* Fit was down 31.1 percent, to 2,925, and Honda sold 2,104 Insights.

Nissan/Infiniti: 70,189, up 29.4 percent.
* Nissan was up 31.9 percent, to 63,148. Infiniti was up 10.7 percent, to 7,041.
* Nissan Versa was strong, up 130.1 percent, to 11,609.
* Maxima was up 89.5 percent, to 5,301.
* Xterra was up 34.8 percent, to 1,490, and Rogue was up 11.4 percent, to 6,143.
* Murano fell 1.7 percent, to 4,056.