Cobalt sales jump 30%

GM’s overall car sales were down 4 percent, but truck sales were up.

STAFF/WIRE REPORT

Sales of the Chevrolet Cobalt jumped 30 percent in September, the second straight month of increased sales.

General Motors said Tuesday that it sold 19,794 Cobalts in the U.S. last month, compared with 15,215 in September 2006. Despite increases the past two months, the Cobalt sales for the year are still down 14 percent. GM sold 152,895 Cobalts in the first nine months of this year.

GM’s top-selling car this year is the Chevrolet Impala. It sold 23,712 units last month and 249,713 so far this year.

The Cobalt is produced at GM’s Lordstown complex along with the Pontiac G5.

GM sold 2,753 G5s last month, which was 55 percent more than in September 2006.

The increase in sales for the Lordstown-built cars came as overall GM sales held steady in September.

GM saw its car sales drop 4.4 percent, but its truck sales were up 3.6 percent.

The company got a boost from its new lineup of pickups as well as the new Cadillac CTS, which posted a 73 percent sales increase.

Others’ sales

Meanwhile, Ford’s U.S. sales plummeted 21 percent in September while Chrysler and Toyota posted slimmer declines. Despite a 4 percent decline in September, Toyota’s sales lead over Ford widened for the year.

Honda Motor Co.’s U.S. sales rose more than 9 percent, while Nissan Motor Co.’s sales gained 7 percent on strength of record Altima sedan sales.

But Chrysler LLC said its U.S. sales fell 5 percent, although retail sales were up and fleet sales were down compared with the same month last year.

Ford Motor Co.’s car sales dropped 39 percent compared with last September, while its truck sales were down 5 percent. Sales of Ford’s F-150 pickup, long the best-selling vehicle in the United States, fell 21 percent as newer pickups from GM and Toyota Motor Corp. stole its thunder.

Ford said a 62 percent reduction in sales to rental car fleets partly was to blame. Ford has been trying to cut back on rental sales, which can hurt brand image and profits.

Ford’s overall sales were down 13 percent for the first nine months of the year. Ford hasn’t seen a month when sales rose since October 2006, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank.

George Pipas, Ford’s top sales analyst, said Ford is on track to cut sales to daily rental fleets by more than its original goal of 30 percent this year, or 135,000 vehicles.