General Motors Co. sold 252,894 vehicles in the United States in May, up 3 percent compared with a year ago. Retail sales increased 9 percent, fleet sales were down 10 percent and the fleet mix was 26 percent of total sales. GM's trucks sales were up 15 percent versus a year ago, including a 23 percent increase for large pickups and a 30 percent increase for large SUVs. Retail passenger car sales were up 2 percent while total sales were down 6 percent. Lower fleet sales were due primarily to the timing of customer deliveries.
Ford Motor Company's May US sales were up 14 percent compared with a year ago and were the best May sales since 2006 with retail sales up 17 percent. Ford also announced Q3 2013 planned production of 740,000 vehicles, up 10 percent from the prior year. The Q3 plan includes the company's recent announcement to add 40,000 vehicles from a reduced July summer shutdown and the addition of 200,000 units of annualized straight-time capacity starting in the fall of this year.
Chrysler Group said that sales last month were the company's best since 2007 and marked the 38th consecutive month of year-on-year sales gains. US sales were 166,596 units, an 11 percent increase compared with sales in May 2012 (150,041 units).