Dive summary:

• Pickup trucks are back in business, accounting for a third of the 8% increase in the sales volume of vehicles in the U.S. from last year to last month, and 21% of 2013's 7% growth so far.
• The increased sales could mean 2 million pickups sold this year, a level that hasn't been reached since 2007.
• U.S. automakers are getting a double benefit, seeing sales go up without manufacturers having to offer painful promotions and two of the three having been leaned out in bankruptcy so that trucks no longer have to prop up bad car profits.

From the article:

"What we're really encouraged about is that the 2010-12 improvement came without the benefit of housing. That was a missing piece of the puzzle," Doug Scott, marketing manager for Ford Motor Co.'s truck group, said....