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The major car manufacturers in the United States posted double digit gains in May except for Japanese carmaker Toyota. The sales for light vehicles peaked since December.

The figures are up by as much as 19% compared to the May 2009 sales numbers marking the eight consecutive month of increase which is considered the longest streak since the first half of 2000. The adjusted rate of sales hit the bell at 11.8 million way over the predictions of experts.

Ford registered a 22% gain for May and also performed well during the incentive spree during the weekend of Memorial Day. General Motors also saw a jump of 17%.

Chrysler soared to a 33% improvement compared a year ago when the carmaker suffered bankruptcy.

The Detroit 3 surpassed the forecast figures of analysts going over by at least 6%.

The sales of Japanese car manufacturer Toyota also went up but only by 7% despite its barrage of incentive programs since March. This is the worst performance by Toyota after posting drops from January through February during the peak of the recall issues. Toyota is still struggling to get up and come up with a better image for the market after recalling over eight million units due to braking and acceleration problems.

Auto aficionados no doubt kept up with all the big reveals at this year’s NAIAS. Many of you are likely just aware of one of the largest surprise reveals there this time: GMC’s Granite concept. The design is meant to produce a smaller sort of truck and crossover, creating a hatchback with a compact build. The target audience? Urban hipsters, baby, along with brave early adopters.

The concept was conceived in California, the brainchild of the Advanced Design Team belonging to Frank Saucedo. However, the hatchback was built in Detroit at the GM Design Center.

The aesthetic behind the Granite puts together the basic, simple proportions found in the Nissan Cube as well as the Scion xB, with a rather industrial feeling that gets its inspiration from, of all things, two major fashion lines: Diesel and G-Star.