While demand for troubled Toyota also surged as all manufacturers offered massive incentives designed to lure new buyers back to dealerships in a topsy-turvy market, major US carmakers posted strong sales figures in March.

Vehicle sales increased 21 percent from March 2009 to 188,546, overtaking rival Ford, which had claimed the top spot in February for the first time in more than a decade, General Motors Co reported on Thursday.

A 40-percent jump in sales was reported by Ford Motor Co, continuing its strong gains as the only one of the major US carmakers to avoid bankruptcy last year. GM remains majority-controlled by the US government after getting billions of dollars in loans in 2009.

Both carmakers offered major deals in the hopes of capitalizing on Japanese maker Toyota Motor Corp's publicity nightmare of the last few months. The world's largest carmaker has been forced to recall more than eight million vehicles worldwide because of unintended acceleration issues as well as brake problems in its Prius hybrids.

Its own round of incentives was offered by Toyota as it waged an aggressive campaign to avoid a collapse in demand. The deals led sales to jump 41 percent to 186,863, giving it the second-highest total on the month.

According to research firm Autodata. com, total industry sales increased 24 percent to 1.07 million vehicles. The data signaled a continuing rebound for the world's most lucrative car market, which was driven into a major slump over the past two years by the broader US recession. (With Inputs from Agencies)