DETROIT - J.D. Power and Associates forecast February U.S. light vehicle sales will rise 17 percent from a year earlier, reported Reuters.

U.S. retail sales are seen up 28 percent at 10.3 million vehicles, the research and consulting firm said on Thursday.

J.D. Power said retail selling rates signal the continuing U.S. auto industry recovery from 2008 and 2009, when much of the industry was restructured, including bankruptcies at General Motors Co and Chrysler.

Retail selling rates are a better indicator of consumer demand than overall selling rates, which include bulk fleet sales, it said.

The firm did not change its forecast for 2011 sales of 13 million light vehicles, up 12 percent from 2010. It sees retail sales up 15 percent to 10.5 million vehicles.

"The stronger retail environment, guided by the new business model that the industry is operating under, is an encouraging signal for 2011," said John Humphrey, J.D. Power senior vice president of automotive operations. "While fleet sales are not expected to grow at the same rate as retail, a rebound in more profitable commercial and governmental fleet volume will make up a larger proportion of the fleet mix in 2011."

Fleet sales to daily rental agencies are not seen as profitable.

North American production by automakers is forecast by J.D. Power to rise 8 percent in 2011 to 12.8 million vehicles, up from its previous forecast of 12.6 million.

J.D. Power said first-quarter North American production will rise 13 percent from a year earlier to 3.2 million vehicles. Output in the 2011 second half production will rise only 4 percent, it said.

U.S. February sales are seen at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12.4 million vehicles, based on results from the first 11 days of the month gathered by J.D. Power.

Total sales for February were forecast at 913,000 vehicles, and retail sales at 727,500.