2024 Chevrolet Silverado HD ZR2
GM
DETROIT – General Motors’ U.S. vehicle sales increased by 18.8% within the second quarter compared with subdued results a yr ago when the automaker was battling supply chain issues.
The Detroit automaker reported sales Wednesday of 691,978 latest vehicles from April through June. That compared with 582,401 vehicles in the course of the second quarter of 2022. It is also a sequential increase compared with GM’s first-quarter sales of just over 600,000 latest cars and trucks.
GM’s second-quarter sales, together with those of other automakers akin to Honda Motor, Nissan Motor and Stellantis, indicate demand for brand new vehicles stays strong as inventories of cars and trucks improve from historically low levels in the course of the coronavirus pandemic and provide chain problems.
Auto industry forecasters project U.S. latest vehicle sales to have increased 16% to 18% in the course of the second quarter compared with a yr earlier.
Cox Automotive recently increased its full-year latest vehicle sales forecast to fifteen million for the broader industry, a gain of nearly 8% from 2022, when sales finished at 13.9 million resulting from low inventory levels and inflated prices.
GM said retail sales increased 15% through the primary half of the yr, while its fleet business jumped 30%.
GM maintained its status because the country’s largest automaker through the primary six months of the yr, with sales up 18.3% to almost 1.3 million vehicles. The Detroit carmaker regained that decades-long title last yr after Toyota Motor took the highest spot in 2021. That yr was the primary time since 1931 that GM wasn’t the bestselling automobile company within the U.S.
On Wednesday, Toyota reported sales of greater than 1 million vehicles within the U.S. through June.
EV sales
GM’s EV sales topped 36,300 in the course of the first half of this yr, including 15,652 within the second quarter. EVs accounted for just 2.8% of the corporate’s total sales in the course of the first half of the yr.
The corporate previously said it planned to provide 50,000 EVs in the course of the first half of the yr, followed by 100,000 in the course of the second half of the yr.
A GM spokesman reconfirmed those targets Wednesday but didn’t immediately comment on whether the corporate had met them. Sales trail production resulting from logistics and inventory on dealer lots. Further production details are expected to be discussed when the automaker reports second-quarter earnings on July 25, the spokesman said.
GM has been criticized for not ramping up production of its EVs quickly enough, as Tesla continues to dominate the U.S. market.
The overwhelming majority of GM’s EV sales in the course of the first six months of the yr – roughly 93% – were sales of its outgoing Chevrolet Bolt models, which shall be discontinued later this yr. GM has been slow to extend production of its latest EVs akin to the GMC Hummer and Cadillac Lyriq. The brand new EVs and their batteries are collectively referred to as Ultium vehicles.
GM CEO Mary Barra reiterated last week that the corporate’s output of newer EVs has been constrained resulting from domestic production of its batteries that is taking longer than expected.
“When people ask me if I could push a button and do something over, I might have done EVs faster, but I’m where I’m and we’re going as fast as we are able to,” she said June 26 in the course of the Aspen Ideas Festival.
GM has several essential EV launches in the course of the second half of this yr including latest versions of the Chevrolet Silverado, Blazer and Equinox. It is also launching a latest electric delivery van and a $300,000-plus bespoke Cadillac EV called the Celestiq.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal News Group, of which CNBC is a component, is the media partner of the Aspen Ideas Festival.
