Need some decent news to brighten up your dreary day? This may not do it, but it’s worth a shot: Chrysler, GM and Ford have released their August sales numbers and each of the automakers saw substantial year-over-year sales increases during the last month of summer vacation.

Chrysler topped the list, with 14% growth, followed by Ford at 13% and GM with a respectable 10% increase.

Toyota and Honda each saw huge gains (46% and 60%, respectively) from last August, but last summer’s sales numbers for Japanese automakers were severely depressed because of factory and shipping shutdowns following the March 2011 earthquake.

Ford F-Series pickups and Chrysler Ram trucks each saw 19% increases in August. Overall, pickups grabbed a full percentage of the new vehicle market share. It’s believed that this uptick directly tied to improvements in the housing market.

“We believe that the recovery in the housing sector is continuing to support our full-size pickup truck sales,” an economist at Ford tells the Wall Street Journal.

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