GM Blasts Sales Estimates in July

GM’s new vehicle sales for July were forecast at around 264,000 by analysts at Edmunds and 258,000 units by the analysts at Kelley Blue Book.

Transaction prices rose about 1.5% year over year to $33,800, up about $200 compared with June and up about $530 compared with July 2014.

The best-selling vehicle in the month was the Chevy Silverado pickup, which saw a sales gain of 33.9% to 56,380 units. The GMC Sierra pickups posted a gain of 13.3% in July and the Acadia sport utility vehicle (SUV) saw a sales gain of 31.8% to 10,671 units in July.

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Cadillac retail sales slipped 7.1%, following a 3.1% decrease in June. For the year to date, total Cadillac sales are down 2.4% and retail sales are down 4.2%.

GM reported that fleet sales comprise 17.4% of July sales, down 5.6% year over year. For the year to date, fleet sales made up 24.2% of sales, down 1.5% compared with the first seven months of 2014. The company has prioritized retail sales of its Chevy and GMC SUVs to the point where retail sales are up 6% and fleet deliveries are down 68%.

Total Chevrolet deliveries in July were up 7.8% year over year. The two pickups aside, sales rose most for the compact the midsize Malibu (up 18.4%) and the Traverse (up 32.2%). The company’s Buick brand saw a year-over-year sales increase of 17.6% in July. Buick sales are down 3.1% 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 17.6 million for July, higher than the June estimate of 17.3 million.

GM’s stock traded up about 0.7% Monday morning, at $31.73 in a 52-week range of $28.82 to $38.99.

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