GM January Sales Tick Higher

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) posted total January U.S. sales of 203,745 vehicles, an increase of 0.5% compared with January 2015. Retail deliveries rose 9%, fleet deliveries slipped 6.2 points and commercial sales rose 6% in January.

GM’s new vehicle sales for January were forecast at around 197,000 by analysts at Kelley Blue Book (KBB). GM’s average transaction price in January came in at $38,594, down 3.2% month over month and up 4.1% compared with January of last year, according to the KBB analysts. GM reported that its average January transaction prices rose to a record $33,600. KBB does not include applied consumer incentives to its calculation. GM reported that January incentive spending equaled 12.4% 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 4.9% to 37,863 units. Sales of the GMC Sierra pickups rose 13.9% in January, while the Colorado midsize pickup posted a sales decline of 7.3% to 5,508 units.

Cadillac retail sales slumped 27.3%, following a 28.7% increase in December. Cadillac sales totaled 10,740 units in January.
[nativounit]
Total Chevrolet deliveries in January fell 3.6% year over year to 137,803 units, although retail sales rose 11.6% to 108,861 units.

The company’s Buick brand saw a year-over-year total sales increase of 45.5% in January and an increase of 44.8% in retail sales.

For the auto industry as a whole, GM’s forecast for the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales is 17.5 million for January, flat with its December estimate.

GM’s stock traded down about 3.6% late Tuesday morning, at $29.01 in a 52-week range of $24.62 to $38.99.