April 1, 2010 4:14 PM EDT
General Motors posted a 43 percent jump in U.S. sales for March from a year earlier in its continuing brands, the first of expected sharp gains by automakers driven by incentives and better weather.
Toyota Motor Corp expects its March U.S. sales to be up as much as 40 percent from a year earlier as it digs out from a drop in sales that followed its massive vehicle recalls and Ford Motor Co also expects a sharp sales increase.
Ford, Toyota and other automakers will report U.S. sales later on Thursday. Last month, Ford overtook GM to be the No. 1 seller in the United States for the first time since 1998.
Toyota launched unprecedented discounts in March to try to win back customers including zero-percent financing for five years on top models such as the Camry sedan.
GM said March U.S. sales rose 40.6 percent for Chevrolet, 41.8 percent for Cadillac, 44.9 percent for GMC and 75.8 percent for Buick. Including all of its discontinuing brands, GM sales rose 20.6 percent for the month from the prior year.
Follow us
Newer GM models like the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain and Buick Lacrosse continued to see strong sales, GM said.
AutoNation Inc Chief Executive Mike Jackson, head of the largest U.S. dealership network, said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday that he expected the industry to break the 12 million vehicle mark for an annualized rate in March.
U.S. auto sales ran at a 10.8 million vehicle annualized rate in January and at about 10.4 million in February.
Influential tracking service J.D. Power and Associates has raised its outlook for full year U.S. auto industry sales to 11.7 million vehicles, from 11.5 million vehicles.
MOST CARMAKERS SEE MARCH INCREASES
Toyota Motor Sales USA President Jim Lentz said earlier this week that industrywide auto sales could be about 11.5 million vehicles in the seasonally adjusted annualized rate followed by economists and industry followers.
In remarks on Wednesday at the New York auto show, Toyota executives said the automaker's March U.S. sales could be up as much as 40 percent from a year earlier, which it believed would be stronger than the industry overall.
The automaker offered broad incentives to jump-start sales in March after the massive safety recalls in January and February that also led to production halts for a week on some of Toyota's best-selling cars and trucks.
Toyota's U.S. market share fell to 13.4 percent in the first two months of 2010 from nearly 17 percent for 2009.
HP 2Q Earnings: Whitman Expected To Swing Ax
POM Juice Lawsuit: 5 Other Companies Accused Of False Advertising
Gina Rinehart Named ‘World’s Richest Woman,’ Australian Mining Tycoon Makes Over $1 Million Every 30 Minutes
Judge Tosses Part of AIG suit against Bank of America
Dell Disappoints, With Dismal Outlook, And Shares Dive 15%We value your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.
