AUTOS

Ford, Chrysler Lead Spurt in Sales: Sales of domestically built vehicles rose 16.3% in mid-December, buoyed by big gains for Ford Motor Co. cars and Chrysler Corp. trucks. Ford’s car sales were up 39.8% from the same period last year. The company hinted at robust sales of its mid-size Taurus. Chrysler, meantime, sold an estimated 40.5% more trucks. The company said its Jeep sales have set an all-time calendar-year high. Chrysler also sold an estimated 21.7% more cars during the Dec. 11-20 period, while Ford said its truck sales were up 16.5% in the 10-day period. General Motors reported 16.6% higher truck sales, but its car sales were down 2.6%.