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October is a hot and profitable month for truck manufacturers, thanks to the decline in gas prices.

The figures of last month's sales are easy to compare with that of last year for same period. In the light-truck category which includes SUVs, pickups, and vans; sales figure soared by 14.8 percent last month compared to the sales performance for October last year. The gains in the truck segment exceeded the 2.9% falloff in car sales. Moreover, the automotive industry increased its sales by 6.1 percent over October 2005. Nonetheless, last month was the second worst month in terms of this year's volume.

Last month, customers from the business and government sector purchased a total of 1.2 million cars and trucks. 56.9 percent of said figure came from local automakers. That makes sales rise by 55.4 percent from the previous year.

Toyota and other foreign automakers reported a double-digit profit in their truck segment. On one hand, GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG reported an increase by approximately 67 percent all through the month.

In the local automotive arena, decline in gas prices seem to benefit GM most. The automaker's truck sales surged by 32.9 percent. DaimlerChrysler truck sales were up by 11.1 percent. Jeep and Dodge received most of the gains. Jeep auto parts are proving what they are worth in Liberty and Commando. Consequently, Dodge truck parts are still preferred by many truck enthusiasts.

However, the rise of truck sales was offset by the decline by 26.4 percent in car sales. Moreover, the automaker's overall October sales decline amounted to 1.6 percent.

Ford truck sales were up by only 0.7 percent. However, its car sales surged by 22 percent. The car sales were attributed to Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ. The automaker reported an increase of 8 percent for October this year.

"Trucks bounced back during the month," says Paul Ballew, executive director of market and industry analysis at GM. Chrysler, conversely, boasts its truck sales, "The retail side of our business has really shown a lot of strength for us in October, especially with key products such as Jeep Commander, Dodge Ram pickup ... Jeep Liberty," says Steven Landry, Chrysler Group vice president of sales and field operations.

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