A sluggish economy and budget cuts did not deter Americans from buying new cars and trucks in February.

Most of the major automakers reported gains in February sales on Friday, with the notable exception of Nissan and Honda.

General Motors said it sold 224,314 vehicles last month, up 7 percent compared with February 2012. Retail sales and fleet sales were up 7 percent.

Kurt McNeil, GM’s vice president of U.S. sales operations, said in a statement that a “recovery in new home construction” is benefiting truck sales.

The DMAX plant in Moraine produces diesel engines for heavy-duty trucks often used at construction sites.

“Light vehicle sales have now been running at a mid-15 million unit annual rate since November,” McNeil said. “This sets us up well for the launches of key new products this year, including an all-new generation of Chevrolet and GMC full-size pickups and an all-new Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CTS.”

Chrysler Group reported U.S. sales of 139,015 vehicles, a 4 percent increase over sales last February. Chrysler said last month was its best February outcome since 2008.

Also Friday, Chrysler said it would invest nearly $374 million into plants in North Central Indiana, in facilities in Kokomo and Tipton, adding about 1,250 jobs at those facilities, and making one of its Kokomo plants “the largest transmission installation in the world,” the company said.

Dayton’s Behr Thermal Products facility serves Chrysler, as well as other automakers.

Ford Motor Co. said its U.S. February sales are up 9 percent, with 195,822 vehicles sold, making the month its best February in six years, with car sales up 6 percent, utility vehicles up 21 percent and truck sales up 4 percent.

Ford’s F-Series trucks posted a 15 percent gain, the company said.

Toyota said sales rose 4.3 percent. Nissan sales were off almost 7 percent for the month, while Honda saw its sales fall 2 percent.