General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) posted total October U.S. sales of 262,993 vehicles, an increase of 15.9% compared with October 2014. Retail deliveries rose 16%, fleet deliveries were unchanged and commercial sales rose 14% in October. Total fleet deliveries for the year to date are down 2% primarily on planned reduced sales to rental customers.
GM’s new vehicle sales for October were forecast at around 250,000 by analysts at Kelley Blue Book (KBB). GM’s average transaction price in October came in at $38,844, up 1% month over month and up 3% compared with October of last year, according to the KBB analysts. GM reported that its average October transaction prices fell $130 year over year, according to an estimate by J.D. Power. KBB does not include applied consumer incentives to its calculation. GM reported that October incentive spending was 12.7% of its average transaction price.
The best-selling vehicle in the month was the Chevy Silverado pickup, which saw a year-over-year sales gain of 10% to 51,647 units. The GMC Sierra pickups posted a decline of 0.2% in October and the Acadia SUV saw a sales gain of 8.8% to 6,928 units in the month.
Cadillac retail sales rose 13%, following a 1.6% decrease in September. For the year to date, total Cadillac sales are down 0.3% and retail sales are down 3.7%.
Total Chevrolet deliveries in October were up 20.1% year over year. Sales of Malibu rose 122% year over year and sales of the Equinox crossover rose 25.5%.
The company’s Buick brand saw a year-over-year sales decrease of 0.2% in October. Buick sales are down 1.6% for the year to date.
For the auto industry as a whole, GM’s forecast for the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales is 18.2 million for October, just below the September estimate of 18.3 million.
GM’s stock traded down about 0.2% Tuesday morning, at $35.51 in a 52-week range of $24.62 to $38.99.
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