GM Continues to Gain Traction in U.S. Retail Market in October

General Motors sales rose 5.9% in October on a daily basis, with a robust double-digit gain by its Buick brand leading the way.

Volume for the month totaled 258,626, down 1.7% from like-2015’s 262,993, but two fewer selling days this year pushed the daily rate upward and helped GM easily outperform a WardsAuto forecast for the month.

More important than the overall volume gain was GM’s showing in the retail sector. The automaker claims it “outperformed the entire U.S. retail industry by a wide margin,” gaining retail market share of 1.6 points to 18.1% in the month.

GM says it has scooped up retail share in 16 of the past 19 months, and for the year it is up 1% overall. Much of that increase is credited to the 2% gain in retail volume for the Chevrolet brand and 4% hike at Buick.

That market power is showing up in average transaction prices, which hit $36,155 in October (minus incentives), up $1,000 from year-ago and what the automaker says is $4,650 above the industry average.

“GM’s October performance reflects the strength of our retail business and our operating discipline,” Kurt McNeil, vice president-U.S. sales operations, says in a statement. “We gained profitable retail share in October while spending less than the industry average on incentives and commanding the industry’s best average transaction prices for any full-line automaker.

“We will continue our disciplined approach and focus on retail in a strong industry.”

For the month, Buick sales rose a whopping 15.7% daily on strong Encore demand (up 16.3%), while Chevrolet gained 6.8% mainly from solid utility-vehicle demand and nice bumps in volume for its Cruze, Sonic and Spark cars.

GMC eked out a 1% daily-rate gain, driven primarily by the Acadia and Yukon, while Cadillac results declined 2.4% as the brand failed to get traction with models other than its Escalade SUV.

Fullsize pickup sales softened, with the Chevrolet Silverado up just 3.8% daily and the GMC Sierra sliding 12.5%. But some of that weakening was offset by strong demand for the Chevrolet Colorado (up 61.4%) and GMC Canyon (up 24.2%).

Fleet sales accounted for 19.5% of volume in October, down 3.3 points from year-ago. Through October, 19.1% of GM sales have gone to fleet customers, down 3.7 points from like-2015.

The automaker says it ended the month with 834,201 vehicles in stock, equal to an 84-day supply. That compares with 785,514 units and a 79-day inventory at the end of September.

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