DEARBORN —  Last month, Ford Motor Company’s car sales were at its highest, since August 2006. The automaker said in a statement on Wednesday, Sept. 4 that U.S. auto sales were up 12 percent in August and its retail sales jumped 20 percent for the month.

The Dearborn-based company said truck sales rose 30 percent, car sales were up 15 percent and utility vehicle sales increased 16 percent.

“Producing more Fusions at Flat Rock Assembly with its 1,400 new workers is a welcome opportunity, as Fusion showed great strength in August,” Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said in a statement. 

He added that small and hybrid cars are in demand, especially in the coastal regions of the country.

Czubay said Ford’s retail is growing the small car industry in America.

Meanwhile, Chrysler Group LLC’s U.S. sales went up 11.5 percent from August of last year.

“Last month, we achieved our strongest retail sales in the past 60 months,” Reid Bigland, Chrysler’s head of U.S. sales, said in a statement. “All aspects of our business continue to improve, as evidenced by our streak of 41 consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains.”

General Motors’ sales also rose 15 percent in August.