GM, Ford exceed U.S. sales expectations for April
Tuesday May 5, 11:11 pm Eastern Time
By David Lawder
DETROIT, May 5 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. (GM - news) and Ford
Motor Co. (F - news) on Tuesday reported stronger-than-expected U.S.
vehicle sales during April as generous rebates on passenger cars and
strong truck demand pushed up industry totals a solid 6.1 percent.
GM sold 447,271 light vehicles last month, up 8.2 percent from the
413,343 it sold in April 1997. GM's domestic light truck sales rose
18.4 percent to a new record of 211,419, marking the company's sixth
straight monthly truck sales gain.
GM's domestic passenger car sales, where much of the increased
incentive activity was focused, rose 0.2 percent to 233,303 units.
Industry analysts had predicted that GM would report a 3 percent to 4
percent increase in sales, while Ford would post a 3 percent decline.
Instead, Ford reported a slight increase in April, with U.S. car and
light truck sales reaching 321,061 units, up 0.8 percent from the
318,392 it sold a year earlier.
Ford's domestic car sales rose 2.7 percent, while domestic truck sales
rose just 107 vehicles from a year ago, good enough for a 0.1 percent
gain.
Excluding the six vehicles it discontinued last year, Ford said its
sales of continuing models were up 6 percent.
With all automakers reporting, the industry recorded a 6.1 percent
increase to 1.36 million units. The seasonally adjusted annual sales
rate for the month came to 15.6 million units, the strongest rate so
far this year.
The April sales rate compared with a year-ago rate of 14.6 million
units and was well ahead of analysts' forecast of a 14.8 million to
14.9 million rate.
GM market research director Michael DiGiovanni said automakers can
afford to fuel demand with incentives.
''Just about everybody's healthy, that leads to a lot of
competitiveness, which is why we see the price incentives we do,''
DiGiovanni said. ''Everybody's battling for share and that's also
propping up these industry numbers.''
GM ended the month with 32.9 percent of the U.S. market, continuing
gains it made last month following a recent low of 28.6 percent in
February.
GM executives attributed the recent market share dip to the fact that
competitors were spending more on incentives. Analysts estimate that
to catch up, GM added about $300 per vehicle in incentives in the past
several weeks. The automaker also started offering current owners of
GM vehicles an additional $500 or $1,000 discount on new vehicles
bought or leased through June 30.
For GM, all divisions posted April sales increases except Pontiac,
which is now launching production of its top-selling Grand Am model.
Chevrolet led the divisions with a 15 percent increase, fueled largely
by truck sales and gains in the small and mid-size car segment.
Chrysler Corp. (C - news) on Friday reported a stronger-than-expected
April sales increase of 8.2 percent.
Among other automakers reporting Tuesday, Germany's Volkswagen AG
(VOWG.F) reported a 58.7 percent increase to 20,562 units, helped by
sales of its New Beetle and its redesigned Passat, as well as strong
performances by older models such as the Golf and Cabriolet.
Volkswagen's Audi unit reported a 31 percent increase to 4,325 cars,
while Ford's Jaguar unit reported a 31.7 percent gain to 2,005 cars. |
