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Alec Gutierrez, senior market analyst for Kelley Blue Book, said in an email that GM's U.S. growth has been fueled largely by rising sales of full-size pickup trucks. "The surge in truck demand has benefited GM beyond their home market by allowing them to close the gap with Toyota in the global sales race," he wrote, adding that newer compact and subcompact cars have also helped GM grow in segments where it previously had few sales. At Volkswagen AG, Global sales increased 5.5 percent for the first six months despite slumping sales in Europe, its home market. VW, which includes the Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Skoda and Seat brands, said last week that it sold 4.7 million vehicles during the first half. Keeping up that pace would give VW 9.4 million sales for the full year, better than last year's 9.1 million but still short of GM and Toyota. The company said it made "satisfactory progress" despite economic troubles, especially in Europe. Volkswagen's blistering U.S. sales growth of the past few years has slowed. Its sales grew only 3.3 percent in the first half even though the market as a whole grew 8.4 percent. Last year, VW's U.S. sales gained almost 31 percent. Ford Motor Co., GM's closest Detroit competitor, hasn't released its global first-half sales numbers, but it typically ranks well below GM, Toyota and VW. Still, Ford reported strong growth in both the U.S. and China, where it entered the market late but is rapidly expanding. Ford's China sales rose 47 percent to 407,721 in the first six months, mostly because of new products like the Kuga and EcoSport small SUVs. U.S. sales grew nearly 14 percent to 1.29 million.
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