GM sales drop 3.5% as rental sales slide; retail deliveries rise 12th straight month

May 03, 2016 01:00 AM

DAVID PHILLIPS

GM said its incentives averaged about $3,650 per vehicle sale, or 10.3 percent of its average transaction price.

DETROIT -- General Motors’ April sales fell 3.5 percent, amid another big drop in deliveries to rental companies.

GM sold 259,557 vehicles last month. Its retail sales rose for the 12th straight month, up 3.3 percent, to 200,656, driven by strong demand for pickups and SUVs. The company said its retail sales rose 9 percent over the last 12 months, double the industry’s pace.

After cutting nearly 50,000 rental units in 2015 vs. a year earlier, GM has accelerated its rental pullback this year. In April, rental sales sank 39 percent, down nearly 18,000 vehicles from a year earlier. Through four months, GM’s rental sales are 61,000 lower than a year earlier. Company executives believe shrinking its rental business will improve residual values and brand health.

GM said its rose 12 percent in April. Combined sales of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup rose 10 percent, to 70,521. The smaller Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups combined for more than 13,000 deliveries, their highest since the midsize pickups launched in autumn 2014.

GM’s crossover sales dropped 15 percent, as gains for the Buick Encore and Chevy Trax subcompacts couldn’t offset a 29 percent decline in Chevy Equinox sales, to 20,607.

Car sales fell 12 percent, as plunging sales of the Chevy Cruze (down 32 percent) and Sonic (41 percent lower) negated a 25 percent surge in deliveries of the redesigned Chevy Malibu, launched in late 2015.

Each of GM’s four brands posted lower overall sales vs. a year earlier. Cadillac sales sank 29 percent, hurt by a 54 percent plunge in deliveries of its top-selling vehicle, the SRX crossover. It’s being replaced by the XT5, which sold 304 units in April, its first month on the market.

In retail sales, Cadillac was the lone decliner, off 23 percent, while the other three brands rose: Buick up 13 percent, GMC up 4.6 percent and Chevy up 4.5 percent, to 134,562, its strongest April retail sales in a decade.

GM said its incentives averaged about $3,650 per vehicle sale, or 10.3 percent of its average transaction price, which it said was flat with last year. The industry average was 10.2 percent, the automaker said, citing research from J.D. Power.

GM said its commercial sales rose for the 30th straight month.