June 1, 2010 – 9:36 am

DETROIT (Bloomberg) — Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. added rebates and discounts to attract buyers over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, driving what may be the longest streak of sales increases in almost 10 years.

Industrywide deliveries probably reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11.2 million light vehicles in May, according to the average of eight analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. If sales did exceed the 9.9 million rate from a year earlier, it would mean eight straight months of increases for the first time since a stretch that ended in June 2000, according to Bloomberg Data.

Sales during the Memorial Day weekend in the past three years ran about 40 percent higher than the typical May weekend, and sales on the last day of the month were more than double the average day, according to researcher Edmunds.com.

Read more.