2024 Buick Envista.
General Motors
Detroit- General Motors U.S. auto sales fell 1.5% in the first quarter from a year earlier, a report said on Tuesday, as the overall auto industry returns to normalcy after years of chaos and erratic performance.
The Detroit automaker said sales fell to 594,233 vehicles in the first three months of the year, mainly due to a 22.9% annual decline in fleet customer sales. General Motors said customer retail sales increased 6%.
GM’s sales fell short of overall industry expectations, with Cox Automotive expecting the industry to rise 5.5% from a year ago.
Buick was the only GM brand to report sales growth this quarter, up 16.4% from the year before. The GMC truck brand fell about 5%, while Cadillac and Chevrolet both fell about 2%.
General Motors reported first-quarter full-size pickup truck sales totaled about 197,000 units, an annual increase of 3.6%, its best performance since the first quarter of 2020.
“General Motors has increased retail market share year over year with a strong product mix and pricing, we have good inventory going into the spring, and production and deliveries of Ultium platform electric vehicles, led by the Cadillac Lyriq, are rising. We are on track” GM Marissa West, President, Automotive North America said in a statement.
Electric car sales
First-quarter sales of General Motors’ all-electric vehicles, which are closely watched by Wall Street, remained minimal. Sales of electric vehicles totaled 16,425 units, accounting for 2.8% of the automaker’s total sales during the same period.
General Motors is ramping up production of its latest electric vehicles, including the Cadillac Lyriq and Blazer EV, while reducing sales of the Chevrolet Bolt model, which was discontinued in December.
Blazer EV sales were limited in the first quarter, totaling 600 units, due to a sales halt from late December to early March to resolve software issues.
Hyundai and other automakers
Other automakers reported mixed first-quarter results, with inventories and sales normalizing to levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker noted that the industry has become increasingly competitive as automakers try to maintain the profits they have achieved in recent years without over-subsidising sales.
“The market is changing rapidly and competition is becoming more intense,” Parker said on a media conference call on Tuesday.
Hyundai last month reported its best-ever March sales, selling 76,920 vehicles, but its first-quarter sales rose just 0.2% compared with the same period last year.
In addition, Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis sold 14,777 vehicles in the first quarter, an increase of 7.3% compared with the same period last year.
Here’s how other major automakers’ U.S. sales performed compared to the first quarter of 2023:
- Toyota Automotive Sales grew by 16%, including 16.1% in March. In the first three months of this year, the company sold nearly 388,000 vehicles.
- honda cars The report stated that sales increased by 17.3% to nearly 334,000 vehicles, including a 10.1% increase in March.
- Kia reported first-quarter sales of 179,621 vehicles, down 2.5% from the same period last year.
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