Ford Ranger Insurance

For those of you scoring at home, the Ford Ranger notched another monthly sales increase in April - though not by much.

Ford Motor Co. said 7,585 of the St. Paul-made small pickup trucks were sold in April, up 86 trucks, or 1.1 percent, from the same period a year ago. Through the first four months of the year, Ranger sales are running 12.3 percent ahead of their 2007 pace.

That makes it the star performer among Ford's more established truck models. Only the Edge, with sales up 37.9 percent year-to-date, is seeing more dramatic gains in the troubled segment. Overall in April, Ford truck sales were down 18.2 percent in April and are off 11.3 percent year-to-date.

A big headache for Ford: its larger F-Series pickups are struggling. Sales were off 21 percent, to 44,813 for F-Series trucks in April. Year-to-date, sales are off 15 percent, to 192,951. Ford is also see sharply lower SUV sales.

Ford said total sales were off 11.9 percent in April, to 189,247 vehicles and are off 9.9 percent for the year, to 735,970.

A bright spot for Ford; the sale of its Ford Focus small car, up 44 percent in April, more than the Ford Escort.

General Motor's overall sales were down 16 percent for the month compared with last April. Toyota Motor said its car sales rose 12 percent, largely on the strength of the subcompact Yaris, which saw sales rise 46 percent and the hybrid Prius, which was up 54 percent. Toyota's truck and SUV sales dropped 8 percent for Ford Galaxy Insurance.