Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. reported a surprising 6.1 percent gain in August sales, led by large pickup trucks, while Toyota Motor Corp. overtook Ford Motor Co. as the second-biggest U.S. automaker after Ford's 14 percent decline.

GM's sales of cars and light trucks rose to 385,529, the Detroit-based company's first monthly gain since May. Toyota's dropped 2.8 percent. The Japanese automaker outsold Ford for the month, 233,471 to 217,170.

``GM really came in much better, it really outperformed,'' said Mirko Mikelic, who helps manage $13 billion in bonds and convertible debt including GM and Ford at Fifth Third Asset Management in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ``GM was just a complete surprise. The trucks looked really strong.''

Sales of large pickups such as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra surged 33 percent after the largest U.S. automaker increased incentives following a July decline. GM shares climbed $1.18, or 3.8 percent, to $31.92, for the biggest daily gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Ford shares increased 18 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $7.99, as the company increased its fourth-quarter production plan. Toyota's American depositary receipts rose $1.27 to $116.95.

Industry sales fell 0.6 percent to 1.48 million cars and light trucks, according to Autodata Corp. in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. GM, Ford and Chrysler LLC's U.S. brands held a 50.9 percent, after dropping below half in July for the first time.

The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate for the month rose to 16.3 million, from 16.2 million a year earlier, Autodata said.

Chrysler's August sales fell 6.1 percent to 168,203, Nissan Motor Co.'s climbed 6.3 percent to 95,527 and Honda Motor Co.'s gained 4.7 percent to 158,342.

GM

Sales at GM, the largest U.S. automaker, rose 17 percent for light trucks while declining 7.8 percent for cars, the company said in a statement. Including medium- and heavy-duty trucks, Detroit-based GM's total climbed 5.3 percent to 388,168.

Analysts in a Bloomberg survey expected a 5.9 percent drop for GM, the average of six estimates.

The automaker also said it plans to trim fourth-quarter North American production by 107,000 vehicles, or 9.7 percent from a year earlier, to 1 million.

Sales of the Silverado increased 32 percent to 67,486, while the GMC Sierra's gain was 34 percent, the automaker said. Total sales of GM's large pickups increased to 91,060 from 68,749 a year earlier, according to Autodata.

GM increased average incentives on its pickup trucks by $440 a vehicle last month from July, company sales analyst Paul Ballew said on a conference call.

The automaker also reported a 50 percent jump to 12,886 for the Chevrolet HHR, a so-called crossover sport-utility vehicle.

``Sales weren't impressive, but they weren't as dismal as in July,'' said IRN Inc. auto analyst Erich Merkle in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ``It was a quirky month in that Toyota was down and General Motors was up.''

Closing the Gap

The gap between Toyota and Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford has been narrowing as Ford has trimmed less-profitable sales to rental-car companies and as consumers paying more for gasoline have opted for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

``This is the new reality, Toyota will be No. 2 in the U.S.,'' said Rebecca Lindland, a forecaster at Lexington, Massachusetts-based Global Insight Inc. ``Ford's market share does stabilize at some point in the future but Toyota just continues to grow. This is probably permanent.''

Ford, which has held the second rank in annual sales since 1931, went into last month with a lead for this year of 9,597 cars and light trucks over Toyota. Through August last year, Ford led by more than 300,000. Toyota has benefited from a reputation for fuel economy as the average U.S. retail price of regular gasoline rose 20 percent through August to $2.78 a gallon.

Toyota's sales of cars and light trucks through August were 1,788,603, compared with 1,781,815 for Ford. Including medium-and heavy-duty trucks, Ford sold 1,792,229 vehicles this year.

Downplaying Change

Bob Carter, who manages U.S. sales for the Toyota brand, said on a conference call that ``we don't see any significance'' in passing Ford. George Pipas, Ford's sales analyst, said the automaker is focused on profit rather than sales ranking. ``I can understand why people are interested,'' he said.

Ford's August sales decline for cars included a drop of 36 percent for the Mustang sports car and a decrease of 15 percent for the Focus small car, the company said in a statement. Ford has been reducing low-profit deliveries to fleet customers such as rental companies.

The company's truck sales, including medium- and heavy-duty models, fell 2.4 percent to 153,468. F-Series large pickup trucks, which account for almost a third of Ford's total sales, declined 9.9 percent to 69,220.

Ford said it plans to boost fourth-quarter production in North America 5.6 percent to 640,000 vehicles. In 2006's final quarter, Ford had slashed output 24 percent, the largest decline since the 1980s, to clear dealer lots of unsold cars and trucks.

`Subprime Squeeze'

Toyota's sales fell from 240,178 a year earlier, the Toyota City, Japan-based company said in a statement. Jim Lentz, executive vice president of its U.S. sales unit, said ``reduced credit tied to the subprime squeeze challenged consumer confidence this month.''

The effect of defaults in the subprime mortgage market probably added to automakers' woes in August. Loans have become more costly and harder to get in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Chrysler's decline, from 179,165 a year earlier, was the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker's first monthly report since DaimlerChrysler AG sold an 80.1 percent stake in the company to Cerberus Capital Management LP on Aug. 3.

Nissan's sales of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles rose to 95,527 from 89,848 a year earlier, Mark McNabb, U.S. sales chief for the Tokyo-based company, said in an interview.

Honda said its sales for August were its best for any month. The Tokyo-based automaker said in a statement that it benefited from gains for Fit subcompacts, midsize Accords and CR-V small sport-utility vehicles.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net; Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 4, 2007 18:22 EDT