GM Sales Slip as Cadillac, Chevy Falter in March

GM’s new vehicle sales for March were forecast at 256,000 by analysts at Kelley Blue Book and nearly 253,000 by analysts at Edmunds.

GM’s best-selling vehicle in the month was the Silverado pickup, which saw a sales gain of 7% to 45,193 units. Both Ford and Chrysler experienced declines in pickup sales in March. The GMC Sierra pickups posted a gain of 3.2% in March, and the Yukon XL sport utility vehicle (SUV) saw a sales gain of 16% to nearly 2,000 units in March.

Cadillac sales fell nearly 7%, on top of a 12.6% decline in February. Cadillac retail sales fell 8.4% in March, after an 18.4% drop in February. For the year to date, Cadillac sales are down 6.1%.

GM reported that fleet sales comprise 26.9% of March sales, up two points year-over-year. For the year to date, fleet sales make up 26.7% of sales, up 2.2 points compared with the first three months of 2014.

ALSO READ: Falling Pickup Sales Drag on March Sales at Chrysler

Total Chevrolet deliveries in March were down 3.2% year-over-year. The two pickups aside, sales rose most for the full-size Suburban SUV and the mid-size Traverse crossover. Corvette sales were up nearly 9%, but Malibu sales were down more than 12% and Impala sales were down 31%.

GM said its average transaction price in March reached $35,200, a rise of $750 from February, and up $1,200 year-over-year. The year-over-year improvement is less than half what it was in February, likely due to higher fleet sales and increased incentives.

Sales of the midsize Chevy Equinox SUV rose 22% in March, compared with a rise of just 0.6% year-over-year in February. It appears that the price of gasoline plays an important role in sales of these vehicles. Gas prices were higher in February and began slipping again in mid-March.

The company’s Buick brand saw a sales increase of 0.5% in March. Buick won the best value award for a luxury car in the Kelley Blue Book Brand Image awards announced earlier Wednesday.

For the auto industry as a whole, GM’s forecast for the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales is 16.9 million for March, up from 16.5 million in February.

GM’s stock traded down about 1.7% Tuesday morning, at $36.88 in a 52-week range of $28.82 to $38.99.

ALSO READ: Ford Sales Slide in March