Brushing Aside Skeptics, GM Says It Had Great Sales Month

General Motors reported record sales of CUVs, fullsize SUVs and pickup trucks in February and argued its strategy of focusing on retail sales rather than low-profit fleet sales is paying off with higher average transaction prices for all its brands.

In a month that had the same number of selling days as last year, GM estimated retail market share grew by more than half of a percentage point while ATPs set a February record.

In the hotly contested fullsize pickup segment, GM estimated Chevy and GMC captured more than 40% of all retail sales with ATPs up nearly $600 per unit. With all automaker numbers reported, Chevy and GMC had a 38.5% share, according to WardsAuto data.

The statements seemed to conflict with industry reports and some competitors that claim GM was piling big incentives on pickups last month. GM appeared to brush off this issue with a bullet point in its press release stating GM internal data showed incentive spending was essentially flat year over year: “In sharp contrast to recently published PIN estimates that noted an increase of 2.7 percentage points to 15% of ATP.”

Commercial deliveries were up 7%, driven by an 11% increase in pickup sales and a 75% increase in Chevy Malibu sales.

GM says its ATPs overall rose $570 per unit to $34,900, a February record.

“Our retail-focused go-to-market strategy is delivering robust results,” says Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president, Sales Operations. “All of our brands grew their average transaction prices by healthy amounts, and we delivered solid growth in the industry’s fastest-growing and most profitable segments.”

Buoyed by strong CUV sales, the Chevrolet brand had its best February retail sales since 2007 and best total sales since 2008. It also sold 952 Bolt electric vehicles, according to WardsAuto data, as the national sales rollout is getting under way after launching in a handful of EV-friendly markets such as California.

The Suburban SUV and Silverado pickup had their best February total and retail sales since 2007.

Buick had its best retail month since 2004, thanks to the new Envision midsize CUV built in China which sold 3,139 units according to WardsAuto data and the hot-selling Encore subcompact CUV which sold 6,528 units in February.

The GMC brand saw its best retail sales since 2002 thanks to soaring CUV and truck sales with the Canyon midsize pickup up 21% and the Acadia CUV up 22%. Of those sales, 26% were high-profit Denali trim levels, the highest for any February in history GM says.

The automaker says it expects industry sales to remain at or near record sales levels and Chevrolet in particular to continue to gain retail market share.

[email protected]