GM Sales Rise on Boost in Pickup Sales, Help From Cadillac

GM’s new vehicle sales for April were forecast at 263,000 by analysts at Kelley Blue Book and nearly 265,000 by analysts at Edmunds.

The best-selling vehicle in the month was the Silverado pickup, which saw a sales gain of 7.5% to 45,978 units. The GMC Sierra pickups posted a gain of 4.8% in April, and the Acadia sport utility vehicle (SUV) saw a sales gain of nearly 40% to 8,767 units in April.

Cadillac sales rose 13.7%, overcoming a 7% decline in March. Cadillac retail sales rose 1.1% in April, a step in the right direction after an 8.4% drop in March. For the year to date, Cadillac sales are down 1%.

GM reported that fleet sales comprise 27.8% of April sales, up less than a point year-over-year. For the year to date, fleet sales make up 27% of sales, up 1.7 points compared with the first three months of 2014.

Total Chevrolet deliveries in March were up 3.4% year-over-year. The two pickups aside, sales rose most for the compact Equinox SUV (up 42%) and the mid-size Traverse crossover (up 27.6%).

GM said its average transaction price in April reached $34,750, a drop of $450 from March, and up $1,580 year-over-year.

ALSO READ: 10 Cars Americans Don’t Want to Buy

The company’s Buick brand saw a sales decrease of 5.2% in April. Buick sales are down 4.7% for the year to date.

For the auto industry as a whole, GM’s forecast for the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales is 16.7 million for March, down from 16.9 million in March.

GM’s stock traded up about 0.6% Friday morning, at $35.21 in a 52-week range of $28.82 to $38.99.