High gas prices, rising interest rates and a drop in sales to rental car companies pushed General Motors Corp's US sales down 16 percent in May to 345,157 vehicles, the automaker said on June 01.
Year-to-date demand was running 7.8 percent lower at 1,653,484 vehicles.
Unlike Ford, which saw strong growth in passenger car sales as consumers shied away from trucks and large sport-utility vehicles, GM saw declines across the board with passenger car demand down 19 percent at 129,905 units, and truck sales off by 13 percent to 215,252 units.
"Our May sales volume was not where we need it to be," said Mark LaNeve, GM vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing for North America. "It clearly was impacted by our reduced reliance on daily rental sales and broad-based incentive programs to drive the business."
GM continued to report strong demand for its new line of traditional full-size SUVs, as the automaker reported a combined 41 percent increase in demand for the segment compared to April's results.
Total sales of all GM launch vehicles were up 12.5 percent compared to April and accounted for 24 percent of GM's total deliveries for the month. The success of GM's launch vehicles is a critical component of its North America restructuring plan, the automaker said.
"Our customers have told us that success in the marketplace depends on a combination of great new products, strong brands and segment-leading fuel economy, and that is exactly the turnaround strategy we are executing," LaNeve said.
GM will continue to introduce an array of new vehicles throughout 2006, including the all-new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups, the fuel-efficient Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid to be introduced this fall, and GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook crossovers coming late this year.
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