Ford (F) sales charged higher in February, making the Dearborn-based automaker the No. 1 seller in America for the second straight month. Ford also noted hybrid and EV sales gains, highlighting the importance of its electrified powertrains.

Ford reported February sales were up 10.5% to 174,192 vehicles, topping Toyota’s total of 159,262. Interestingly, hybrid sales jumped 31.5% to slightly over 12,000 units, powered by record sales of the Maverick hybrid compact pickup and the Ford Escape small SUV hybrid.

Ford’s EV sales — consisting of the Mustang Mach-E crossover and F-150 Lightning pickup — saw sales jump 80.1% year over year in February to 6,368 units sold. Deep price cuts of the Mustang Mach-E and Lightning EV in February likely jump-started sales. Ford shares were up over 3% in early trade on Monday.

Looking deeper into the truck categories, for the month of February F-Series truck sales were actually down 5.8% from a year ago. However, SUV sales were up 23.7% in February to nearly 85,000 units.

Through the first two months of the year, Ford said it sold 165,901 trucks and vans, making it the top-selling truck maker in the US, outselling GM by 26,000 trucks. Note that GM does not report monthly sales data, so this is likely an approximation.

Ford also said F-Series pickup sales hit 100,531 through February, with Ford claiming it is America’s best-selling truck, outselling the Silverado by more than 21,000 trucks. Again, note that Silverado sales are likely an approximation and if Silverado sales are combined with GMC Sierra full-size pickup sales, GM would be more competitive, if not the largest truck maker in the US.

Nonetheless, Ford’s strong truck sales to start the year come despite the automaker only just starting deliveries of 2024 model year F-150s. Ford is beginning to ramp up sales of those 2024 vehicles, starting with the entry-level XL and STX trims, and eventually expanding to higher trim levels.

In addition. the 2024 Lightning EV is currently under a "stop-ship" order at Ford, reportedly due to a minor headlight issue. Ford Lightning sales in March may be impacted by this, but there seems to be enough 2023 inventory to keep Lightning sales going.

Across Ford’s competitors that do report monthly sales, the general trend has been positive for the automakers. Honda reported sales of slightly over 100,000, notching a 37.8% jump in February, though its Acura division’s sales fell 6%.

Hyundai set a sales record in February up 6% to 60,341; sales at Kia fell for the third straight month to 60,859, down 3%. However, both Hyundai and Kia saw strong sales gains with EVs.

As noted above, Toyota reported sales of 165,900 units (up 16%), with sales hitting 184,450 including its Lexus division (up 17%). Toyota said electrified vehicle (hybrid and EV combined) deliveries jumped 84% to 68,445.

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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