US Automakers See Successful March

American automakers GM, Ford and Chrysler announced today a successful March, stating they had had the best sales month in over five years.

General Motors sold 245,950 vehicles in the US in March, an increase of six percent compared to March 2012. The sales breakdown shows that retail sales increased 4 percent and fleet sales were up 12 percent while fleet mix was 27 percent of all sales.

“GM delivered its best March sales in five years thanks to a strengthening economy and new products, and we are expecting our third consecutive increase in market share versus last year ,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales operations. “Sales of smaller cars have been robust for some time. Trucks have improved in lockstep with the housing market and the strength of the crossover market signals that America’s families are more confident about their financial health.”

For Ford, its newest vehicles the Fusion and Escape led sales by setting an all-time monthly sales record in March. Ford saw its best ever US sales since May 2007 selling 236,160 vehicles, an increase of six percent in comparison to 2012.

“Customers are buying our all-new Fusion and Escape in record numbers, and we are working harder than ever to keep pace with demand for these fuel-efficient vehicles,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “Full-size pickup demand continues gaining momentum, outperforming the industry for the third consecutive month.”

Chrysler reported March 2013 sales increase of five percent, total sales of 171,606 vehicles. Reaching its best monthly sales since December 2007, Chrysler’s sales were led by Dodge, Ram Truck and FIAT brands.

“With our 5 percent sales increase in March, Chrysler Group has now achieved year-over-year sales gains in every month for the past three years,” said Reid Bigland, Head of U.S. Sales. “Furthermore, in spite of limited inventory last month on some of our most popular models, we also managed to record our strongest monthly sales since December 2007.”