GM, Ford April Sales Fall, Chrysler’s Rise

by Christopher Freeburn | May 1, 2012 12:06 pm

General Motors (NYSE:GM[1]) and Ford (NYSE:F[2]) reported lower sales for April, while Chrysler and Volkswagen posted double-digit gains during the month.

GM sold 213,387 vehicles during April[3], down 8% compared to last year. The company attributed the drop to a 25% decline in fleet sales. GM estimated total U.S. auto sales at between 14 million and 14.5 million for 2012, a boost from its previous forecast of between 13.5 million to 14 million.

Ford said its vehicles sales[4] dropped 5% in April, compared to last year. The company sold 180,350 vehicles last month, down from 189,778 last year, and well off March sales of 233,418 vehicles.

Car sales declined 11% at Ford during April, while truck and SUV sales both slid 1%. Sales of Ford-branded vehicles dropped 4.7% while Lincoln sales slumped by 13%. The company noted sales of its Ford Edge and Ford Focus grew by 13% and 12%, respectively.

Chrysler, owned by Fiat, announced that its April sales[5] jumped 20%, rising to 141,165 vehicles sold, compared to 117,225 during the same time last year.

Still, sales slid 14% compared to March, when Chrysler sold 163,381 vehicles. Cars sales jumped 37% in April while sales of truck increased 13%. Chrysler-branded vehicle sales soared 56%, while Jeep sales rose 19% and Dodge sales edged up 2%.

The company said that it anticipated an annualized rate of sales for the entire industry to hit 14.6 million vehicles, topping the average estimate[6] of 14.4 million vehicles predicted by analysts surveyed by Reuters.

Volkswagen (PINK:VLKAY[7]) said its sales jumped[8] 31.5% over last year. VW sold 37,525 vehicles in April, though sales of its leading Jetta model were flat compared to 2011.

Endnotes:

  1. GM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GM
  2. F: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=F
  3. during April: http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2012/May/gmsales
  4. vehicles sales: http://corporate.ford.com/our-company/investors/upcoming-investor-events/webcastevent-detail/webcast-20120501?packedargs=releaseId%3D1244755440660
  5. its April sales: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chrysler-us-april-sales-climbed-20-2012-05-01?reflink=MW_news_stmp
  6. average estimate: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-april-auto-sales-20120501,0,7530980.story
  7. VLKAY: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=VLKAY
  8. sales jumped: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304050304577377640834664080.html

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