American auto sales are growing at the fastest rate since February 2008. Bloomberg News reports huge gains for Chrysler and General Motors, exceeding analysts’ estimates:

GM deliveries rose 1.1 percent to 209,306 cars and light trucks, beating analysts’ estimates for a 4.8 percent decrease. Chrysler sales increased 40 percent to 133,521 and [Ford Motor Co.]’s climbed 14 percent to 178,644. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. deliveries each gained 12 percent, while Nissan Motor Co. sales rose 16 percent.

”Everyone’s kind of blowing us out of the water,” Alec Gutierrez, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book, said yesterday in a phone interview. “For fuel-efficient vehicles, we expected to see demand as gasoline prices really surged through the month, but the big surprise is on the truck front. It speaks to the broad-based nature of this recovery.”

Read more about the good news for the auto industry here.