General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, said U.S. sales in June rose 11 percent, trailing analysts’ estimates as consumers concerned about unemployment and the economy avoided large purchases. The average estimate of six analysts was for total sales to gain 16 percent from last year as deliveries rebounded from the recession and production cuts while Detroit-based GM was in bankruptcy protection. Buick brand sales gained 53 percent, while Chevrolet rose 32 percent, Cadillac added 39 percent and GMC rose 45 percent, the company said today in a statement.
GM’s results show the auto market may be slowing as waning consumer confidence keeps buyers out of showrooms. Industrywide deliveries in June were expected to reach an annualized rate of 11.2 million vehicles, the average estimate of eight analysts. That would be a drop from 11.6 million in May. Sales of other GM brands, including the discontinued Pontiac and Saturn marques, dropped 98 percent.
“They’re not getting all of the buyers they lost by discontinuing the other brands,” said John Wolkonowicz, analyst with IHS Automotive in Lexington, Massachusetts. “June of last year was totally horrible. To increase sales only 11 percent above that is not good. I think we’ll see that the market in June overall was weak.”
Annual auto deliveries averaged 16.8 million from 2000 through 2007 and fell to 10.4 million last year, the lowest in 27 years.
Chrysler Sales
Chrysler Group LLC may report June U.S. vehicle sales that gained more than 33 percent from a year earlier, exceeding analysts’ estimates, a person familiar with the results said.
Last June, Chrysler sold 68,297 cars and trucks. A 33 percent increase would indicate at least sales of 90,835 vehicles. Chrysler’s June sales didn’t exceed the 104,819 deliveries in May, the person said. The 33 percent forecast is the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The Conference Board said earlier this week that its confidence index slumped to 52.9 this month from a revised 62.7 in May. The private research group’s June figure was less than the lowest forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
U.S. auto sales have “flat-lined” since last year’s third quarter as consumers have been unwilling to make big purchases, Mark Fields, rival Ford Motor Co.’s president of the Americas, said last week. The 9.7 percent jobless rate and continued lower home prices have hurt consumers’ confidence and are keeping them out of showrooms, dealers and analysts have said.
“Despite all the talk about things getting better, it doesn’t seem that way in many people’s homes or in their bottom line,” said Jessica Caldwell, director of industry analysis at auto researcher Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, California. “It’s going to be a tortoise-like recovery.”
