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Automakers still on a roll
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September 1, 1999: 4:16 p.m. ET
DaimlerChrysler, GM post strong August gains, fueled by trucks
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - DaimlerChrysler AG and General Motors Corp. continued to ride a powerful U.S. economy last month, racking up strong sales gains mainly in their truck and sport-utility lines, the companies said Wednesday.
General Motors Corp., the nation's top automaker, said sales in August rose 63 percent from a year ago, when GM was slow to gear up after a crippling strike.
GM said it sold 443,089 vehicles last month, powered by a second record month of sales of trucks and sport/utility vehicles such as the Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade. A total of 201,785 of overall sales were trucks.
Meanwhile, DaimlerChrysler said its U.S. division sales rose 9 percent from last year prior to the merger of Germany's Daimler-Benz AG and Detroit's Chrysler Corp., to a total of 203,991.
DaimlerChrysler continued to count on its strong truck line, with models such as the Jeep Cherokee and Dodge Ram pickup. The world's second-largest automaker said U.S. truck sales rose 13 percent to 146,835, while car sales edged up just 1 percent to 57,156 vehicles.
Shares of GM (GM), one of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrials average, rose 3/4 to 67, while American depositary receipts of DaimlerChrysler (DCX) added 1-1/8 to 76-5/16. 
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