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Led by a sharp decline in the sale of large SUVs such as the Dodge Durango, Chrysler's sales dropped 8 percent in February, while GM saw its sales increase 3.7 percent, compared with the same month last year.

Adding to the decline in sales is uncertainty surrounding Chrysler's future, cutbacks in production and lackluster sales to key customers -- its employees.

"It has been more affected by the price of gas and the gas mileage on the vehicle," said Scott Saline, sales manager at Carman Dodge near New Castle, who sells a third of his vehicles to Chrysler employees. "People are shying away from the big SUVs across the board."

Meanwhile, the Chrysler Aspen, a luxury version of the Durango, also made in Newark, was among the newer Chrysler products that saw gains in February. Its sales rose 3 percent compared with a month earlier.

General Motors fared the best of the American automakers, gaining 3.7 percent in February compared with a year ago. The world's biggest automaker said consumer demand was strong for its pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

"In the last 10 days of February, their zero percent finance program generated showroom traffic and their trucks are doing well," said Jesse Toprak, auto analyst at Edmunds.com.

Pontiac Solstice sales slipped 45 percent to 1,017 vehicles in February. But Saturn Sky sales rose about 19 percent to 829 vehicles from January 2007.

"Last year, it was the new cool thing to have and we had the early adopters buying them," said Toprak. The buzz has waned a bit and the vehicle is experiencing the typical slowdown in sports car sales in the winter, he said.

Source: [url=http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2007/2007-03-01-09.asp]Environment News Service[/url]