G.M. Sales Rose 21% in March, Helped by Incentives

G.M. Sales Rose 21% in March, Helped by Incentives
By NICK BUNKLEY
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: April 1, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/business/02auto.html?hp


DETROIT — Big discounts last month, led by Toyota’s efforts to overcome damage to its reputation from recent recalls, made March one of the best months in years for new-vehicle sales in the United States, automakers said Thursday.

General Motors started off the parade, saying that sales of the four brands that it would continue to operate increased 43 percent and that its total sales rose 21 percent. Buick sales jumped 76 percent.

Sales of the four brands that G.M. is selling or closing fell 88 percent, as the inventory runs out.

Other carmakers, including Ford and Toyota, are scheduled to release their March sales figures later Thursday. Toyota executives said earlier this week that they expected to report an increase of up to 40 percent.

Several analysts projected that total sales for the industry surged at least 30 percent from March 2009.

Toyota, after recalling more than eight million vehicles worldwide as it tried to resolve complaints about unintended acceleration, focused on jump-starting sales last month with deals that it described as unprecedented. Toyota buyers could get zero-percent financing for five years or low lease payments on many models.

G.M., Ford, Honda and Chrysler were among the other carmakers dangling no-interest loans in front of shoppers.

Toyota’s deals, which increased the company’s incentive spending by 43 percent, or nearly $700 a vehicle, according to estimates from Edmunds.com, seemed to be more successful than even company executives anticipated.

“February was tough, but once the new incentives came out it was good times again,” said Barry Jackson, the general manager of Sandy Springs Toyota, north of Atlanta. “Toyota has never been known for big incentives on their cars, so people are taking advantage.”

Mr. Jackson said his dealership moved 23 new vehicles on Wednesday, including two Prius hybrids to a man who had never owned a Toyota and originally came in looking for only one. “He ended up leasing two of them because the payments were so low,” he said.

Analysts expected the industry’s retail selling rate, which excludes bulk sales to rental-car companies and other fleet operators, to be at the highest level since 2008, aside from the months in 2009 when the government’s “cash-for-clunkers” program suddenly increased demand.