WASHINGTON, July 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Auto sales of General Motors shot up by 41 percent in June resulting in a marketing campaign that offered employee discounts on nearly all models, GM reported on Friday.

    GM, the largest automaker in the United States, recorded its best sales month since September 1986 with 558,092 vehicles sold. Truck sales set an all-time industry record of 382,601 vehicles, a68 percent increase over the same month in 2004.

    The company has been struggling with a slow but steady decline in market share and its sale of vehicles declined by 13 percent in May. It thus extended employee discounts to all buyers from June 1through July 5.

    Ford Motor Company, the second largest automaker in the country report that its sales of vehicles in the United States rose 0.7 percent in June compared with the same period last year.

    Sales of truck and sports utility vehicle declined by three percent in June to 189,011, with only the Ford Explorer and heavy trucks showing sales growth. Car sales, however, rose by 8.5 percent to 100,438, its largest increase in monthly car sales since December 2002. Enditem