DEARBORN -- Despite record-breaking February winter weather in some parts of the country, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles continued their impressive U.S. sales momentum, posting an eye-popping 43-percent sales increase versus the same period a year ago. 

Ford outpaced the industry average for the month and – including Volvo – outsold General Motors.  It's the first time that's happened since 1998 when an internal strike hampered GM sales, according to the Associated Press.  

"More and more customers are putting Ford on their shopping list," said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing Sales and Service.  "We especially notice higher consideration levels for our cars and crossovers, like Fusion and Escape."

Although Czubay said Ford did not have enough data to calculate specific conquest sales from Toyota for February, he did say that it was a "pretty darn good number for our dealers, especially in the cars that we had considerable cross shopping…the Fusion and Milan, for example." 

Total market share for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury was estimated at 17 percent in February, about three percentage points higher than a year ago and up from January's 15.8 percent share. 

Contributions came from all brands and categories, and customers continued to purchase high-end models with more technology. 

F-Series sales were up 39 percent.  Transit Connect and E-Series combined for more than a 60 percent share of the commercial van segment.  Fusion recorded its tenth monthly sales record in the last 11 months.  The conquest rate of the gas model rose to 60 percent in February while Fusion Hybrid reached 83 percent.  Taurus sales rocketed 93 percent. 

Ford pegged the industry selling rate in the mid-10 million range for February, higher than a year ago, but lower than last month.  Ford U.S. Economist Emily Kolinski Morris says that recent economic data remains mixed, but that the company expects a gradual improvement in the pace of industry sales in the months ahead.

Ford announced a second-quarter production schedule of 595,000 vehicles, up 32 percent from a year ago.