GM February Sales Up 4% as Pickup Sales Rise

[cnxvideo id=”655420″ placement=”ros”]General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) on Wednesday posted total February U.S. sales of 237,388 vehicles, an increase of 4.2% compared with February 2016. Retail deliveries rose 4.9 points in the month to 188,715 million units and fleet deliveries dipped 0.5 percentage points to account for 20.5% of total monthly sales.

GM’s new vehicle sales for February were forecast at 223,000 by analysts at Kelley Blue Book (KBB). The analysts also estimated an average transaction price of $38,188, down 1.2% month over month and up 0.3% year over year. KBB does not include applied consumer incentives to its calculation.

The company said January’s average transaction price was $34,900, up $570 per unit and a new record for February. The company also said that February incentive spending was essentially flat year over year compared with an industry-wide increase of 2.7 points to 15% of the average transaction price.

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February sales of the company’s top-selling Silverado pickup rose by 17.1% year over year to 50,504 units, and GMC Sierra sales jumped 15.9% to 17,618 units. Sales of the Colorado midsize pickup rose 1.7% to 7,519 units.

Cadillac retail sales decreased 8.6% in February, following a 1.2% increase in January. Cadillac sales totaled 10,823 units in February.

Total Chevrolet deliveries in January increased by 3.4% year over year to 164,095 units, with retail sales rising 3.4% to 103,808 units.

The company’s Buick brand saw a year-over-year sales drop of 9.4% in February, including an increase of 8.1% 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 February.

For 2017, 10 all-new or recently redesigned crossovers are expected to drive GM’s sales and share higher, including the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, which will compete in the industry’s most popular segment. Fleet deliveries to car rental agencies are expected to decline for a third consecutive year.

GM’s stock traded up about 1.4% late Wednesday morning, at $37.36 in a 52-week range of $27.34 to $38.38. The 12-month consensus price target on the stock is $39.38.

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