Ford was the only one of the “big three” American auto companies that chose not to take any federal assistance. The latest profit earnings indicate a comeback, with Ford reporting 3rd Quarter earnings profits of nearly $1 billion. These profits come despite the fact that they turned down the bailout money GM and Chrysler opted to take last year.

Commented Whitney Olson of Bison Ford, “People have a renewed interest in the domestic makers, and I think that since Ford didn’t take the money, we’ve fared the best probably out of the 3 automakers.”

In addition to rising profits, Ford also boosted shares by over five percentage points this quarter. This gain is especially impressive given last year’s $14.6 billion losses.

Olson explains why this might be the case.

“I think that Ford’s done really well in the last month partly because of a lot of the new product that’s come out. We have a lot of new models on the ground that have had significant upgrades done on them during the last year.”

Continues Olson, “I think at the same time it’s been a process that’s been going on well over just the year that the bailout has taken place. There’s been a lot of aggressive restructuring.”

Locally in Great Falls, Bennett Motors reports that GM sales have been steady. Profits data from the automaker have yet to be released.

“Any news is positive, and we’re thrilled that Ford has positive news,” says Cari Yturri of Bennett Motors. “I’m sure that GM will have something positive to say, but what it is, we don’t have that yet.”

Both Bison Ford and Bennett Motors say the sales boost they got from the “Cash for Clunkers” program appears to be having continued positive effects.