Cars and Drivers

GM Reports Q2, Year-to-Date Sales Up Over 4%

Paul Ausick

Published: July 3, 2018 11:25 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 9:31 pm

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) on Tuesday posted U.S. second-quarter sales of 758,376 vehicles, an increase of 4.6% compared with the second quarter of 2017. Fleet deliveries amounted to 22% of quarterly sales.

For the year to date, GM has sold 1.47 million units, up by 4.2% over the first half of last year. The Chevy Silverado and Equinox are the company’s two best-selling vehicles.

GM no longer reports monthly sales, and this is the first of the company’s quarterly sales reports. The next GM report is due October 3, and the fourth-quarter sales report is scheduled for release on January 3, 2019.

The company reported 787,500 units in dealer inventory at the end of June, down by 193,000 from the total at the end of June 2017.

Summing previous monthly estimates for April and May, GM’s new vehicle sales for the second quarter were forecast at 765,000 by analysts at Cox Automotive. Kelley Blue Book analysts also estimated an average transaction price of $41,004, up 4.7% year over year. Kelley Blue Book does not include applied consumer incentives to its calculation.

GM said average second-quarter incentive spending of 13.4% was down from 13.8% in the same period last year but higher than the industry average of 11.8% in the second quarter.

Second-quarter sales of the company’s top-selling Silverado pickup jumped by 15.7% year over year to 155,529 units, while GMC Sierra sales rose 20.4% to 59,406 units. For the first half of 2018, Silverado sales are up 10.7% year over year and Sierra sales are up 1.7%.

Sales of the Colorado midsize pickup rose 46.8% to 41,016 units, and the comparable GMC Canyon saw a sales increase of 30.9% to 9,635 units in the second quarter. For the year to date, Colorado sales are up 38.9% and Canyon sales are up 13.2%.

Cadillac brand retail sales rose 3% in the second quarter. Cadillac sales totaled 39,222 units in the quarter, driven by sales of the XTS and XT5.

Total Chevrolet deliveries in the second quarter rose by 6.2% year over year to 528,100 units. The Chevy Equinox SUV posted a sales increase of 4.6% in the quarter, and the Impala full-size sedan saw a sales jump of 46.3%. The Equinox is the Chevy brand’s second-best selling vehicle, behind Silverado.

The company’s Buick brand saw a year-over-year sales decrease of 12% in the second quarter, including a 44.7% in LaCrosse sales. The Buick Enclave posted a year-over-year sales gain of 25.4% and Encore sales rose just 4.1%.

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For the auto industry as a whole, GM’s forecast for the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales at the end of the first half of 2018 is 17.2 million. Cox Automotive projected a SAAR of 16.9 million for the end of June.

GM’s stock traded down by about 0.6% Tuesday morning, at $39.28 in a 52-week range of $34.50 to $46.76. The 12-month consensus price target on the stock is $49.39.