Cruze sales decline, but remains strong competitor, analyst says

YOUNGSTOWN

Although the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze showed an 11 percent decline in sales year-over-year, the compact car still showed up to the plate this March with nearly 24,000 sales.

“[The Chevrolet Cruze] has emerged as a legit competitor in the compact segment,” said Jeremy Acevedo, an analyst for Edmunds.com. “They have had a really strong debut. What GM can do now is refine the product, and doing a lot of little things right can get more customers.”

Cruze sales were 23,598 compared with 26,521 in March 2014.

Overall, GM on Wednesday posted sales of 249,875 vehicles this March over last for a 2 percent drop from last March’s sales. Retail sales dropped 5 percent, while fleet deliveries rose 5 percent from March 2014. Most analysts predicted GM would post sales of 256,000 units during the month, which had one fewer selling day than March 2014.

Crossovers and pickups drove GM sales.

Read more about the sales in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.