US car sales slow down at General Motors and Ford
US car manufacturers General Motors (GM) and Ford reported a drop in US car sales in March as consumer demand hit the brakes.
GM’s share price has been dipped slightly on reaction to the news, falling by almost two per cent to around $36.80 per share. Shares in Ford dropped by around 1.5 per cent to $15.89 per share
American sales in March dropped by 2.4 per cent at to 249,875 at GM which owns the Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick brands. Year-on-year revenues have been on the up in recent quarterly results at GM, contributing to its decision to announce a 20 per cent increase to its dividend last month.
A slightly more severe fall was felt at Ford where sales fell from 3.4 per cent to 235,929.
GM was keen to point to strong Chevrolet and GMC truck sales which it said were at their highest level since March 2007 and up 14 per cent year on year.
Kurt McNeil, the company’s US vice president of sales operations said:
As the economy gained steam throughout 2014, we knew 2015 would be a strong year for trucks.Higher demand dovetailed perfectly with the launches of our new full-size pickups and large SUVs. Low fuel prices and the successful launches of the Chevrolet Colorado and Trax made us even more bullish.Our foresight and disciplined approach to incentives is being rewarded with very strong truck sales and record average transaction prices.
