Luxury car sales on the rise; Ford and Chevy trucks lead August sales

The Ferrari 458 Italia costs about $300,000. (Ferrari)

Luxury car sales rise in first half of year
With the economy improving -- albeit slowly -- the well-heeled are splurging on luxury autos again. Nationwide, combined new car sales for the top six exotic luxury brands have grown 16 percent in the first seven months of 2010, compared with the same period last year, according to TrueCar.com, a new-car pricing website. That's 3,065 exotic autos sold by Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Maybach and Rolls-Royce through July versus 2,650 in 2009. Exotic car models will represent about nine percent of all new car models on sale in 2010, according to Edmunds.com.

--The Associated Press

(The Associated Press)

Ford, Chevy trucks lead sales in August
The top-selling vehicles and the total number sold last month, with July's rank in parentheses:
1. Ford F-series, 47,652 (1)
2. Chevrolet Silverado, 34,084 (3)
3. Toyota Camry, 30,764 (2)
4. Honda Civic, 22,803 (5)
5. Honda Accord, 22,506 (6)
6. Hyundai Sonata, 21,399 (-)
7. Toyota Corolla/Matrix, 20,280 (4)
8. Honda CR-V, 19,451 (9)
9. Dodge Ram, 18,995 (8)
10. Nissan Altima, 18,491 (10)

--The Associated Press
(photo credit: The Associated Press)