General Motors Leads The Pack In April U.S. Auto Sales

It’s May the 1st, and that means May Day parades celebrating the many contributions of organized labor to the betterment of mankind in cities across the globe. May 1st also means that April’s auto industry sales numbers have been released, and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) reported strong sales ahead of consensus estimates.

Industrywide sales look to be a bit off this month, however. According to the data seen so far, it looks like car sales did not keep up with the strong demand for pickups and SUVs. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s overall car sales dropped 9% for the month, with the Ford Focus down 15%. Monthly deliveries of Chrysler’s lame duck 200 sedan decreased by 66% and sales of General Motors’ Chevy Cruze also slid 1.3%.

General Motors April sales numbers

General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) reported sales of 254,076 vehicles in April, a 6.9% increase over March. On average, the ten major analysts who cover General Motors had been anticipating an gain of 5.7%.

Trucks were a particular bright spot, as deliveries of the GMC Sierra truck jumped by 21 percent and sales of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup increased by 8.5 %. General Motors’ large sport-utility vehicles, including the popular Chevrolet Tahoe, gained 22%, the Detroit-based company said in an e-mailed statement.

Ford and Chrysler results

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) reported U.S. sales for April dropped by 0.8% to 210,355, in a statement released earlier today. The April sales number was a disappointment and well below consensus analyst estimates of 3.1%.

Fiat-affliated Chrysler Group reported April U.S. sales of 178,652, a solid 14% increase from March. The numbers represented Chrysler’s best April sales since 2007, but the results fell a little short of consensus analyst estimates for a 16% increase. Chrysler is projecting total sales of 16.3 million units for 2014.

Other automaker April sales results

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NSANY) (TYO:7201) April sales were also very strong, up 18%, and easily outpacing the 14% average analyst estimates.

Fiat S.p.A. (ADR) (OTCMKTS:FIATY) (BIT:F) April sales were up a brisk 10% to 4,298 units.

Although Toyota Motor Corp (ADR) (NYSE:TM) (TYO:7203) and Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) (TYO:7267) have not reported official April sales figures yet, analyst expect Toyota’s U.S. sales to be up 13% and Honda Motor Co. to come in with a 3.3% increase.