DETROIT - Ford Motor Co posted a 43 percent surge in its February U.S. sales on Tuesday, outselling General Motors Co , and also set higher second-quarter production targets for North America.

Ford said it plans to build 595,000 vehicles in North America in the second quarter, up 32 percent from a year earlier.

Ford, the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy in 2009, said U.S. sales rose 43 percent to 137,644 vehicles for its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands.

Including Volvo, U.S. sales rose 43 percent to 142,285 units in February from 99,400 a year earlier, the automaker said.

GM reported earlier on Tuesday its February U.S. sales rose 12 percent to 141,951 vehicles.

Ford said its U.S. market share for February is estimated at 17 percent, up 3 percentage points from a year ago.

Ford shares were down 0.4 percent at $12.36 on the New York Stock Exchange at midday on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim, editing by Matthew Lewis)

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