General Motors posts $3.2 billion profit in 2011

General Motors posted its first quarter profits of 2011 and made $3.2 billion, making for its fifth-straight quarterly profit. GM’s sale of its stake in Delphi and stock in lender Ally Financial for a combined total of $1.5 billion made for a substantial factor. The car manufacturer was only estimated to make about $1.6 billion this quarter, according to financial analysts.

“Excluding special items, GM made $2 billion before interest and taxes, which compares with earnings of $1.7 billion a year earlier. The 18 percent improvement adds to a string of quarterly profits that’s the automaker’s longest since an eight-quarter stretch from 2002 to 2004,” according to an article on the Detroit Free Press.

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“It’s good progress. It sets up a good foundation for the rest of the year,” Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said in a statement on Thursday morning, while mentioning that GM doesn’t think its 2011 sales or earnings will be impacted by the Japanese earthquake or tsunami. “Our purchasing and engineering teams have done a good job.”

In the U.S., vehicle sales grew 24.7 percent, picking up 0.7 points of market share. GM had raised incentives in January and February in an attempt to get ahead of other automakers’ springtime deals that might appeal to owners driving now-discontinued Pontiac and Saturn vehicles, the paper says.