In a turnaround apparently motivated by exhortations from politicians to go out and buy something to help prop up the economy -- and probably helped along by substantial cash-back and zero-interest offers from automakers -- consumers pushed sales of new cars and trucks to near-normal levels over the weekend, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It is too soon to tell whether the sales surge will continue, according to the Times. Analysts still believe that new-vehicle sales for the final quarter will be down 5 percent or more as consumers pull back in the wake

of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.

Sales were off by as much as 30 percent to 50 percent in the days immediately after the

attacks. But sales surveys released Sept. 24 by J.D. Power & Associates and CNW Marketing/Research showed that consumers were responding to suggestions that one good way to stand up to terrorism is to get back to normal as quickly as possible.

Agoura Hills-based J.D. Power, drawing on daily sales reports by more than 5,000 dealers in key markets around the country, said sales Sept. 22 and 23 increased to within 11 percent of sales

in the four weekends preceding Sept. 11. Preliminary Sept. 24 numbers show a 14 percent drop for the day, according to economist Van Bussmann, Power's head of global forecasting.

CNW Vice President Art Spinella said his company's surveys showed that floor traffic at dealerships across the U.S. this weekend returned to 90 percent of pre-Sept. 11 levels after nearly two weeks of 30-to-50-percent declines. CNW, based in Bandon, Ore., found that dealers were selling cars to about 25 percent of those who came looking, a rate considered normal in the industry.

Zero-percent financing programs from Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. had an effect, Spinella said, with 11 percent of Ford and GM customers saying they shopped primarily because of the incentives.