The bad publicity hitting some Toyota models has apparently resulted in a 16% sales drop for the brand during January, where the company for the first time in many years after fell short of the 100,000 units sold mark in the U.S. market. At the same, both Ford and GM noted some healthy sales gains. Ford sales rose 25% from a year earlier, while GM noted a 14% jump to 146,315 units sold. These healthy auto sales figures might suggest that the economy is finally growing again, and the deep global recession might be easing.

While GM received financial aid from Washington, Ford was able to better manage through the recession on their own.