TORONTO -- Canadians buying trucks and SUVs helped boost auto sales in July as car sales struggled, the automakers say.

Ford says it posted a 15 per cent increase to 28,923 vehicles sold in Canada for July compared with 25,188 a year ago.

Overall sales of Ford trucks increased by 26.2 per cent to 28,923 last month compared with 25,188 in July 2013. However, Ford's cars didn't fare as well. Sales slumped by 15.9 per cent, down 5,178 from 6,796 in July 2013.

Chrysler trailed Ford with a seven per cent gain to total 28,007 cars and trucks sold in July. That compared with 26,209 a year ago.

Truck sales were up 11.8 per cent compared with a year ago, boosted by Jeep sales which gained 58 per cent. Overall Chrysler's truck sales totalled 24,700, up from 22,095 last year.

Chrysler car sales fell 19.6 per cent to 3,307 from 4,114 in July 2013.

Last month's sales were also strong for Japanese automaker Nissan which reported its truck sales grew by 51.9 per cent, totalling 4,897 sold versus 3,223 in July 2013.

Overall, Nissan and its Infiniti luxury division sold 11,434 vehicles up from 8,176 vehicles in July 2013.

Truck sales picked up for Toyota and its Lexus brand too. With 8,785 trucks purchased, year-over-year sales received a boost of 6.8 per cent.

However, the Japanese automaker reported overall sales growth of just 1.7 per cent as car sales slipped 2.7 per cent. In total, Toyota, Lexus and Scion combined to sell 18,039 vehicles, up from 17,734 a year ago.