Ford Motor Co. beating General Motors Co. in U.S. sales in February may signal a new automaker atop the industry as CEO Alan Mulally pares operating costs and refreshes the vehicle lineup, Bloomberg reported.

Monthly results showed Ford topping GM in deliveries for the first time since 1998. Before that, the Dearborn, Mich.-based company’s last win was in 1970, based on Ford data. Both triumphs came when strikes idled Detroit-based GM, which has been No. 1 in U.S. annual sales since 1931.

“Ford’s advantage over GM could be the new normal,” said Shelly Lombard, a debt analyst for more than two decades who is now at Gimme Credit LLC in New York. “GM is still in turnaround mode and Ford is six steps ahead. Ford has the products, a new reputation for solid quality and management focus.”

Mulally, who joined Ford more than three years ago from Boeing Co., has championed redesigned sedans such as the Taurus, presided over a 47 percent cut in the North American workforce since 2006 and, unlike GM, avoided bankruptcy. The Ford brand rose to eighth place in 2009 from 23rd in 2001 in the initial quality survey by consumer researcher J.D. Power & Associates.

GM exited court protection last year with a plan to drop half its U.S. brands. The winding down of those units damped February results, and CEO Ed Whitacre reshuffled the sales team for the second time since December.

Ford reported a 43 percent increase in sales to 142,285 in February, topping the 33 percent average estimate among 5 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. GM reported sales of 141,951 units, a 12 percent gain that trailed the analysts’ projection of a 20 percent increase.

Ford’s U.S. market share was 18.2 percent, compared with 18.1 percent for GM, according to researcher Autodata Corp. in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

“We’re not measuring ourselves against any other company,” George Pipas, Ford’s sales analyst, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We’re measuring ourselves against the consumer.”

Jason Laird, a GM spokesman, said: “None of our internal benchmarks are against another company. And one game does not a season make.”

Toyota Motor Corp., which has been second in annual U.S. sales since 2007, said deliveries fell 8.7 percent to 100,027 after its global recalls.