If new-vehicle sales are an indicator of how consumers feel about their local economy, then Utahns must be feeling pretty good.

The Utah Tax Commission said sales of new cars and trucks soared 11.6 percent during the third quarter of 1992 over the same period in 1991, driven by a large increase in the sale of new trucks.By comparison, sales of new cars and trucks nationwide was virtually flat for the same period, up only 0.3 percent, the Tax Commission said.

Based on registrations, total new car and truck sales totaled 17,009 for the third quarter. Of those, trucks accounted for nearly 44 percent, the highest share since the commission has tracked sales, said Leslee Katayama of the commission's Economic and Statistical unit.

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New passenger-car sales were up 4.4 percent for the quarter while truck sales climbed 22.3 percent over the third quarter of 1991, the highest quarter-over-quarter increase since 1984.

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