Ford Motor Co’s strategy to gain market share from the bankruptcy-plagued, government-backed domestic competitors - General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group - appears to have clicked! Going by the recent statistics, the automaker Monday said that it had boosted its third-quarter US production targets for the second time.

Indicating signs of stabilized demand, Ford said that it intends increasing its third-quarter production in North America by nearly 5.4 percent over and above a plan divulged in the beginning of June. As a result, the company now looks at a quarterly production of 485,000 new cars and light trucks – marking a 16 percent increase over the same quarter earlier-year production figures of 418,000.

The upward revision in Ford’s production figures comes at a time when its rivals GM and Chrysler are still wrestling out adjustments in their output, while dealing with bankruptcy-strained restructuring.

Ford, which is the only US automaker that has avoided bankruptcy, has projected a recovery in US auto demand in 2009 second-half.

Elaborating on the decision to expand production, Ford America’s President Mark Fields said: “We decided last year to break the mold and stop over-producing. Our inventory is now down and with demand up, driven by our new products, we are in the position to increase production again. There is definitely a cessation in the deterioration of the economy.”