Chevrolet Corvettes were a hot item last month. The National Corvette Museum turnstiles didn’t do too bad either.

Deliveries of America’s premier sports car more than tripled the best July in recent history, according to the General Motors website. That’s a 356 percent increase from last July’s numbers, company statistics show.

Corvettes are made at the GM Bowling Green Assembly Plant. The museum also calls Bowling Green home.

“Consumers who do not normally buy the vehicle are looking at it for the first time,” said Jesse Toprak, chief analyst at the car shopping site Cars.com.

“It’s a really well done car, and it’s getting good reviews all around. It’s good value for the money. It is enabling the model to go beyond its core buyer group,” Toprak said in a telephone interview Friday.

While 671 Corvettes were delivered in July 2013, that number jumped to 3,060 in July this year, company statistics said. Corvette deliveries are up 227.9 percent over 2013, with 20,804 deliveries as of the end of July this year compared to 6,344 a year ago.

Overall, General Motors delivered 256,160 vehicles in July, the company’s highest July sales since 2007, GM.com reported.

Big discounts helped keep U.S. auto sales moving in July, The Associated Press noted. J.D. Power and Associates reported that General Motors, Ford, Nissan and Chrysler all reported big gains and industry sales were predicted to rise 5 percent to 1.4 million.

That’s the best July for the auto industry since 2006, J.D. Power and Associates told the AP.

“Sales of utility vehicles soared in July because American families feel better about the economy than they have in a long time, and they are finding an incredible variety of redesigned and all-new models in our showrooms,” Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of sales operations for GM, said in a release.

Chevrolet’s total sales for all its vehicles were up 9 percent compared to July 2013. Retail sales – sales to individual customers – were up 4 percent, a release said. Commercial deliveries were up 69 percent and all other fleet deliveries were up 21 percent.

Sales of crossovers and trucks – which include pickups, vans and sport-utility vehicles – surged by the double-digits, leading to combined sales of 1,048,114 through July, GM also noted in the release.

A Corvette sales jump is more about 2014 being the first model year of the seventh generation Corvette and 2013 the last model year of the sixth generation Corvette, said Katie Frassinelli, marketing and communications manager for the National Corvette Museum.

“I don’t think (the museum has) anything to do with it,” she said of the increased sales.

The museum also had an improved July, Frassinelli said. Turnstile figures show 30,174 people attended the museum in July compared to 20,949 in July a year ago. June 2014 also showed an attendance increase, 24,129 from 15,811. From January to July the numbers also show a large jump when the two years are compared. Frassinelli said 2014’s January through July at the NCM totaled 123,511 visitors compared to 87,045 the year before.

The NCM’s next big summer event is Aug. 28-30 for the Corvette Caravan. Increased attendance has been attributed to the worldwide attention the museum received when the sinkhole collapsed inside the dome in February, sending eight one-of-a-kind Corvettes to their demise.

Toprak said the sizzling vehicle sales in July will be followed by “a healthy fall” where the full-size trucks, which didn’t take off in sales earlier in the year, may see some sales increases. Toprak said full-size truck sales are tied to the nation’s housing sector since most of the full-sized truck purchases are commercial.

Toprak told the AP that vehicle incentives averaged $2,774 per vehicle, their highest level since August 2010, adding that Ford, Hyundia, Kia, Toyota and Volkswagon boosted the incentives the most.

Chrysler’s U.S. sales increased 20 percent for the month on the strong demand for the Ram pickup, AP reported, while Ford sales were up 10 percent on gains in sales of the Escape and Explorer SUVs.

— Follow education reporter Chuck Mason on Twitter at twitter.com/bgdnschools or visit bgdailynews.com.