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This year, pickup sales have been gaining momemtum. Through May, Americans bought 11 percent more than they did in the first five months of last year and the sales pace has been accelerating. Ford's new Super Duty pickup, a workhorse geared toward construction companies and other heavy-duty businesses, hit the market in May, accounting for a third of Ford's truck sales. Those sales will probably come down once excitement for the new model wears off. Sales gains at General Motors and Chrysler, the No. 2 and 3 sellers of pickups in the United States, have been growing, too, although more modestly than at Ford. Economists also caution that the outlook for the housing industry is far from clear, which means the future for pickup truck sales
-- not to mention the economic recovery -- is far from certain. But for now, sales are strong at places like Kentucky's Jack Kain Ford, which sold Blevins his F-150. General manager Bob Kain said pickup trucks have been outselling cars by a two-to-one margin the last two months at his store. The buyers are mostly companies in the service sector -- plumbers or air-conditioning companies, for example, that have finally decided to replace some of their aging fleets. "They think that things are getting better," Kain said. "As a result, they're more willing and free to spend some money now."
[Associated
Press;
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