General Motors Co.’s U.S. sales rose 26 percent in April, beating analysts’ estimates, while deliveries at Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. increased less than expected.
GM’s sales climbed to 232,538 vehicles from 183,997 a year earlier, the Detroit-based automaker said today in a statement. The gain topped the 14 percent increase estimated on average by seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Ford said its sales rose 13 percent to 189,778, and Nissan’s gained 12 percent to 71,526.
GM’s Cruze set a record for sales since its introduction last year, and the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain small sport-utility vehicles had their best April as rising gas prices lured consumers to more fuel-efficient models, said Don Johnson, vice president of U.S. sales.
“Cruze has been well-received,” Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive officer of Santa Monica, California-based Edmunds.com, said in a telephone interview. “There is definitely demand there and a lot of it is driven by fuel prices.”
The average price of regular unleaded gasoline in the U.S. rose 37 percent in the past year to $3.97 a gallon yesterday, according to AAA. The price peaked at $4.11 in July 2008.
U.S. auto sales may have run at a seasonally adjusted 13 million annual rate, the average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The pace was 13.1 million in March and 13.4 million in February, according to Autodata Corp. in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
GM climbed 75 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $32.93 at 12:46 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Ford fell 3 cents to $15.42.
Ford Fiesta
Ford’s 13 percent gain trailed the average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg for a 14 percent increase. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker’s Fiesta subcompact exceeded 9,000 deliveries for the second month in a row, while sales of the Focus compact car rose 22 percent to 17,265. F- Series pickup sales rose 11 percent.
Vehicles getting more than 30 mpg on the highway have climbed to more than 35 percent of GM’s sales to retail customers from 19 percent two years ago, Johnson said. The Cruze Eco model, which had its first full month of deliveries in April, gets as much as 42 mpg on the highway.
“We’re very well-positioned to grow our share in some of these key small-vehicle segments,” Johnson said yesterday in a telephone briefing with reporters.
GM Inventory
GM had inventory of 577,000 vehicles on dealer lots at the end of April, according to today’s statement, in line with previous months this year and up by about 149,000 vehicles from a year earlier. GM’s discounts fell more than 10 percent, or about $400 per vehicle, from March, Johnson said yesterday.
The March 11 earthquake in Japan won’t “materially” affect GM’s results this year, and the company still expects industrywide U.S. sales in 2011 of 13 million to 13.5 million, including medium- and heavy-duty trucks, Johnson said today.
The industry selling rate on that basis may be 13.4 million or 13.5 million for April, he said.
Chrysler Group LLC, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, may say sales rose 18 percent in April, the average of five analysts’ estimates.
Toyota Sales
Deliveries at Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, may have risen 1.4 percent, the average of four analysts’ estimates. U.S. sales may have gained 14 percent at Honda Motor Co., the average of four analysts’ estimates.
Nissan’s 12 percent sales gain trailed the 33 percent increase estimated on average by four analysts.
Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, led the eighth straight drop in the country’s monthly auto sales in April to 108,824 vehicles, the lowest for any month since the Japan Automobile Dealers Association started tracking sales in 1968.
Inventories for Japan-based manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda may begin to shrink in May and June, executives at the largest auto retailers said last week.
U.S. light-vehicle sales climbed to 11.6 million in 2010 from a 27-year low in 2009. Deliveries still were 31 percent fewer than the 16.8 million annual average from 2000 to 2007, according to Autodata. A 13 million rate this month would be a 16 percent increase from the 11.2 million pace in April 2010.
--With assistance from Keith Naughton, Tim Higgins and David Welch in Southfield, Michigan, and Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles. Editors: Kevin Orland, Jamie Butters
To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Trudell in Southfield, Michigan, at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net.
