GM Grows 32 Percent in May

Fresh out of the debt it repaid last week to the US government, American manufacturer GM posted today its good sales figures for the month of May. According to the carmaker, 32 percent more Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles have been sold since the beginning of the year, amounting to 874,749 units. The increase in May is thus tiny compared to the 323 percent year-to-date sales increase.

“Each of our brands has new products that are being received well by customers. In fact, these new vehicles now account for about one in every four retail sales in the US,” Steve Carlisle, vice president, US Sales Operations said in a statement. “With each brand launching new vehicles in the next few months, we are optimistic about the remainder of the year.”

Chevrolet accounted for 167,235 of the total units sold, which represents an increase of 31 percent compared to May 2009. The best selling Chevy models were the Suburban (72 percent up), Silverado, Equinox, Traverse, Avalanche, Malibu and Camaro, all with increases in sales above 10 percent.

Buick's sales rose 37 percent for the month to 12,582, with sales being led by he LaCrosse and Enclave. GMC chipped in 30,160 units (an increase of 26 percent), with the Terrain jumped 350 percent in sales from year-to-date.

Cadillac managed to raise the sales numbers to 12,328, 54 percent higher than last year in May.

For May, GM reports a month-end dealer inventory of 408,000 units, which is about 22,000 lower compared to April 2010, and about 267,000 lower than May 2009.