GM expected to see stellar September

Staff report

Three car buying and selling platforms project General Motors will have a stellar September sales month.

Kelley Blue Book shows GM up 15.9 percent from last September with an estimated 217,000 units sold.

Edmunds has GM selling 228,801 units last month, a 22.2 percent increase from last year.

TrueCar also shows GM with a 20.2 percent increase with 225,000 units sold.

“Following an extraordinarily strong month of sales in August, with the industry above 17 million seasonally adjusted annual rate for the first time in eight years, Kelley Blue Book expects sales to level out in September,” said Alec Gutierrez, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “Sales will remain strong and show healthy year-over-year improvement.”

KBB expects to see a 9.1 percent increase from September 2013 for new vehicle sales. KBB adjusted its estimates for 2014 from 16.3 to 16.4 seasonally adjusted annual rate because of the healthy sales so far this year.

Retail sales are expected to account for 85 percent of the sales volume in September, according to KBB.

Most manufacturers saw big gains in sales for the month of September with the benefit of having an extra sales day. In fact, Ford Motor Company is the only listed manufacturer by all three platforms to see a decline in sales for the month of September.

Edmunds estimates an 11 percent increase from last September for new car sales.

“September sales are consistent with the strength we’ve seen most of this year,” said Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst for Edmunds,

Edmunds projects GM will lead sales in September, but will still fall short of the amount of units sold in August.

TrueCar estimates sales to go up by 9.7 percent from last September.

“We expect to see another strong month for the industry with the best September since 2007,” said John Krafcik, president of TrueCar.

Compact cars are expected to take a hit in September sales, while compact SUVs/crossovers are expected to see an increase of 19.1 percent for the month, according to KBB.

Greg Greenwood of Greenwood Chevrolet and president of the Chevy All-stars believes trucks will be a top seller for GM in September. “I think the [Chevrolet] Silverado will lead the way,” he said.

He also expects the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze to have a solid month.