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Lordstown-built cars continue sales slump
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Chevrolet Cobalt at the 2009 Cleveland Auto Show
STAFF/WIRE REPORT
Sales of cars built at General Motors’ Lordstown complex continued their sales slump that started last fall.
GM said Friday that it sold 10,627 Chevrolet Cobalts in the U.S. last month, down 43 percent from the 18,636 that were sold in April 2008.
Despite the decline from 2008 numbers, last month was the best month this year for the Cobalt.
It was a different story for the Pontiac G5, the twin of the Cobalt, which also is made in Lordstown.
GM sold 441 G5s, which was the lowest monthly total since the first month the car was on sale in 2006. GM sold 2,030 G5s in April 2008.
For the first four months of this year, Cobalt sales are down 52 percent, and G5 sales are down 67 percent.
Overall, GM’s April sales sank 34 percent, but that’s the smallest decline for the beleaguered Detroit-based automaker since December.
GM reported sales of 173,007 vehicles last month, compared with 260,922 in April of 2008.
The automaker sold 71,775 cars in April, down 41 percent from a year earlier when it sold 120,824 during the month. It sold 28 percent fewer trucks, down to 101,232 in April.
So far this year, GM has sold 585,910 vehicles — a 45 percent drop from the nearly 1.1 million vehicles sold in January through April of last year.
Total sales in April improved 11 percent from March numbers, GM said.
On a month-over-month basis, Chevrolet sales were up 22 percent, Cadillac sales increased 2 percent, and GMC sales rose 7 percent. Buick sales were up 21 percent.
Ford Motor Co. said Friday that April sales of light trucks and vehicles fell 32 percent compared with sales in April 2008. The figures exclude sales of heavy and low-cab-forward trucks.
The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker sold 133,979 light-vehicles last month, compared with 195,665 for the same month in 2008. Sales rose from March to April, with Ford selling 2,878 more cars.
Ford said it sold a record number of Fusions — 18,321 — as the company rolled out its 2010 gas and hybrid versions of the car.