American automaker, General Motors Co. posted a 12 percent domestic sales gain for February. Increased demand for crossover vehicles and doubled sales to fleet operators helped the company achieve retail sales gains for the fifth consecutive month.
GM has been paring down their company and eliminating less successful brands like Pontiac, Saab and most recently Hummer. At present only four of GMs brands continue to be sold, Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC. The remaining products are up 7 percent from a year ago.
GM success sets them apart from much of the auto industry as many companies continue to struggle this quarter. Across the board, February has been a disappointing month for car manufacturers with sales weaker than analyst expectations. Many analysts predicted that the first fiscal quarter of 2010 would begin a limited recovery for the industry. Instead, it’s estimated that winter storms pushed down sales by as much as 5 percent.
For GM, overall sales grew by 32 percent. Sales of the abandoned brands fell 86 percent as dealers sold off residual stock.
Perhaps GM’s success will cue other companies to follow in the footsteps of their restructured business plan. GM attributes its success to minimizing expensive sales incentives and driving up prices to generate profits at smaller sales volumes. In February prices were up $4,000 per transaction from a year earlier.
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