General Motors Co. announced today that it sold 224,314 vehicles in the United States in February, up 7 percent compared with a year ago.
2013 Cadillac ATS (courtesy image)DETROIT- General Motors Co. announced today that it sold 224,314 vehicles in the United States in February, up 7 percent compared with a year ago.
Retail sales and fleet sales were both up 7 percent. The fleet mix was 25 percent of total sales, equal to a year ago, officials said.
“The housing sector has now joined auto sales in propelling the U.S. economy forward,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales operations. “More importantly, the recovery in new home construction is reinforcing the underlying improvement in auto buying conditions, especially for pickups.
All four GM brands posted higher year-over-year sales: Cadillac was up 20 percent; Buick was up 15 percent; GMC was up 10 percent, and Chevrolet was up 5 percent.
Auto analyst research firms TrueCar.com and LMC Automotive predict U.S. vehicle sales in February to increase about 6 percent from a year ago to 1.2 million.
LMC Automotive predicts retail sales this month to reach 931,100 units, which would be 9 percent higher than in February 2012 and would translate to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 12.1 million units, up from last February’s 11.7 million unit pace, but weaker than the 13.1 million-unit retail pace in January 2013.
GM is the last of the Detroit automakers to release February sales results. Earlier this morning, Chrysler Group LLC reported U.S. vehicle sales of about 139,000 units in February, a 4 percent increase from the same time a year ago. Ford Motor Co. reported U.S. sales of 195,822 vehicles, a 9 percent year-over-year increase and its February since 2006.
The top five best-selling vehicles for GM remained the same, but changed positions a bit with the Chevrolet Cruze regaining the No. 3 spot. For a second-consecutive month, the Buick Verano took the No. 1 spot in terms of year-over-year sales.
Top five GM models by units sold in February (2013 sales):
1. Chevrolet Silverado- 41,643 (77,088)
2. Chevrolet Equinox- 20,649 (37,872)
3. Chevrolet Cruze- 17,947 (32,471)
4. Chevrolet Impala- 15,424 (29,577)
5. Chevrolet Malibu- 14,817 (30,640)
Top five GM models by year-over-year sales in February (units sold):
1. Buick Verano- 147.1% (4,171)
2. Chevrolet Captiva Sport- 68.9% (3,867)
3. Chevrolet Volt- 58.9% (1,626)
4. Chevrolet Caprice- 29.7% (201)
5. Chevrolet Silverado- 28.9%- (41,643)
Other automakers are scheduled to release their results later today as well.
Check back to MLive.com/auto later today for more information of February sales.
Email Michael Wayland: MWayland@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MikeWayland