"while sales of the redesigned Pathfinder SUV more than quadrupled" - well, 4x the 17 they sold last year isn't that much ha ha. Pathfinder sales have been weak for a while, and a new body style on any SUV tends to wake up interest in it. My parents wanted an Escape, and I got them an old body style 2010 for cheap. As in $15k for a really nice one with leather, low KMs, etc. The cheapest 2012 (new body style) I could find was $23k. It's amazing how much of a difference a change in body style can make on the value and desirability of a vehicle. And with consumer confidence rising, people that have been holding off on a new purchase will be deciding to buy - and after waiting all that time they won't want an "old" body style vehicle in their driveway. Now is when manufacturers will be coming out with all sorts of new stuff, to fill that "need" of the consumer that had been holding on to their dough.
As for the F-150 sales, ya I can see that. Those things always sell really well. Ford is smart, they make a huge range of options on them. So you can buy a ghetto cheap base model or a full jam crew cab with everything you can imagine in it. And they are a decent truck. Nothing spectacular, but not terrible either. And they are cheeeeeap if you want the base model, and odds are your neighbors won't know the difference between an XL and a Lariat when they see it.
