NORMAL - Last year may have been a lemon for the automotive industry, but Mitsubishi managed to squeeze out a glass of lemonade.

Mitsubishi Motors North America sold 128,993 vehicles in 2007, a nearly 9 percent increase from the 118,558 sold the previous year. It was the company's best sales report since 2004.

The increase - while a far cry from peak sales of 345,000 just five years earlier - was still notable at a time when Big 3 automakers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all saw 2007 sales skid, and analysts were predicting the industry's worst year in a decade.

Automotive News, an industry trade journal, reported U.S. vehicle sales dropped 2.5 percent from 2006 to 2007, to 16.15 million vehicles.

MMNA spokesman Dan Irvin said the company, which has struggled in recent years, bucked the downturn "in a big way."

"It makes us feel good looking ahead because the success was in the newer products," he said Thursday. "Those vehicles were the war-horses for the gains we saw."

Vehicles that saw improved sales included the Spyder and the Outlander, which were both updated in 2006, as well as the Lancer, updated last year. The company's best-selling vehicle, also the Lancer, had sales of 29,085.

The Galant will see a major redesign for the 2009 model year, while the Eclipse, Spyder and Endeavor will also see improvements.

All four vehicles are made at the Normal manufacturing plant, which has operated on a single shift since layoffs in 2004. Work on the new Galant began at the plant late last month.

Irvin said 2008 will be competitive and challenging for the industry. He declined to make any sales predictions.

"Our goal is to sell every possible car we can," he said.