Big deals raise March car sales

April 2, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Photo by: AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Photo

In this Feb. 7, 2010 photo, a 2010 GMC Acadia sits under the sign at a General Motors dealership in Silverthorne, Colo. General Motors Co. said Thursday, April 1, 2010, its March sales rose 21 percent over the same month last year, a sign that an incentive war will boost overall U.S. auto sales.

Staff/wire report

Car shoppers flocked to showrooms last month, lured by big promotions from Toyota and other automakers that could persist into the spring.

Toyota’s unprecedented incentives, including low-interest financing, cheap leases and free maintenance for return customers, pushed up its U.S. sales 41 percent in March and helped it recover from a dismal February. They also touched off an incentive war that drew in buyers to rival dealers.

General Motors Co. reported a 21 percent jump in new-vehicle sales Thursday, while Ford’s climbed nearly 40 percent and Honda Motor Co.’s rose 23 percent over March last year.

GM sold 10,316 Chevrolet Cobalts last month, up from 7,930 that were sold in March 2009. The Cobalt is produced at GM’s Lordstown complex.

Barry Gonis, general manager of Spitzer Chevrolet in North Jackson, said it’s nice to see sales picking up after a slump that has lasted more than a year.

“This is what the car business used to be like. We’re not quite at that point, but we’re getting there,” he said.

The sales point to one conclusion: March was a good time to buy a new car.

Automakers ramped up promotions, with incentive spending up $100, or 4 percent, from February to $2,742 per vehicle, according to Edmunds.com. That’s still down from a record high of $3,165 last March, when dealers scrambled to lure customers worried about rising layoffs and bankruptcies at GM and Chrysler.

GM’s sales from its four core brands — Buick, GMC, Chevrolet and Cadillac — rose 43 percent to 188,546. Redesigned vehicles such as the Chevrolet Equinox midsize crossover and Buick LaCrosse luxury sedan saw strong demand. Sales fell sharply for Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer, the brands it is shedding.

Industry analysis firms TrueCar and Edmunds.com predicted that GM’s March incentive spending would lead major automakers’ at more than $3,500 per vehicle, well above the industry average of roughly $2,800.

March auto sales shouldn’t be viewed as a sign of economic recovery because automakers had to shell out a lot of money to draw in customers, said Jessica Caldwell, analyst for Edmunds.

“I still don’t see a huge, steady demand,” she said.