GM March Sales Inch Higher

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) posted total March U.S. sales of 252,128 vehicles, an increase of 0.9% compared with March 2015. Retail deliveries rose 5.9%, fleet deliveries slipped 3.6 points and commercial sales rose 13% in March.

GM’s new vehicle sales for March were forecast at around 254,319 by analysts at Edmunds. Kelley Blue Book estimated an average transaction price in March of $38,005, down about $80 month over month and up about $1,060 year over year. GM reported that its average March transaction prices rose to $35,800, up $1,600 compared with February’s average.

Kelley Blue Book does not include applied consumer incentives to its calculation. GM reported that March incentive spending equaled 10% of its average transaction price, below the industry average of 10.8%.

The best-selling vehicle in the month was the Chevy Silverado pickup, which saw a year-over-year sales increase of 6.1% to 47,966 units. Sales of the GMC Sierra pickups rose nearly 24% in March to 21,548 units, while the Colorado midsized pickup posted a sales increase of 46.8% to 9,718 units.
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Cadillac retail sales fell 5.1%, following a 4.2% increase in February. Cadillac sales totaled 13,053 units in March.

Total Chevrolet deliveries in March rose 1.4% year over year to 176,283 units, although retail sales rose 6.8% to 125,920 units.

The company’s Buick brand saw a year-over-year total sales decrease of 11.3% in March and a drop of 5.6% in retail sales.

For the auto industry as a whole, GM’s forecast for the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales is 17.1 million for March, down from its February estimate of 17.7 million.

GM’s stock traded down about 2.6% Tuesday morning, at $30.62 in a 52-week range of $24.62 to $37.45.